Playing the Games
by AsakuraX
Summary: What would happen if Percy couldn't stop Kronos on Olympus? How would the Titans add insult to the injury of casting the Olympians out and conquering the world? Answer: making their children fight to the death...
1. Let the Games Begin

_We lost. How could we have lost? Yes, we were outnumbered, even with the reinforcements from the Ares cabin and the Party Ponies, and even though Nico had managed to bring his father and the entire army of hell into the battle, we were still outnumbered. But something_ more_ happened. Something went wrong on Mount Olympus. Kronos had made it to Olympus, had begun to destroy the city of the gods. But Percy Jackson was there. Percy tried to fight him, but I guess the Titan was just too strong. Or something like that…Percy was captured alive after the fight, along with Annabeth and Nico and a lot of other half-bloods. Nobody will tell me what happened. I've seen Percy twice since the battle, and Annabeth four times, but nobody will tell me what happened in the halls of Mount Olympus. I haven't seen Chiron since the battle. There was a rumor that he retreated with as many half-bloods he could get to along with the Oracle and was hiding somewhere. But no one knows where he could be hiding. _No one knows for sure, but I heard that most of the nymphs were cursed and trapped within the tree that gave them life. And the satyrs...well...I don't know what happened to them._ I don't even know what happened to the Olympians. Maybe they've been imprisoned in Tartarus like the Titans before them. But I do know one thing: the Titans are out to make sure we remember who captured Mount Olympus. _

_That's where the Games come in. And this time, I'm a competitor. I'm a sacrifice to the Games, to the Titans, to the defeat of the half-bloods in the streets of Manhattan. And it's not just me: twenty three other half-bloods will be locked in together and made to fight, to murder each other for survival. Kill or be killed. That's the way of the Games. And I don't plan on going down without a fight._

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><p>Lyca Bowyer leaned against the wall in the darkness of her cell, trying to keep her breathing steady. She couldn't let her fears of the Games get to her. She hadn't been scared before. When Luke's army broke into the confines of Camp Half-Blood and threatened the campers, she wasn't afraid. When Percy came back from blowing up Luke's ship and Beckendorf didn't come home with him, she wasn't afraid. She was sad, like most of the half-bloods were, but not afraid. When Percy and Annabeth called for the camp to go to Manhattan and face off with the entirety of Krono's army, she was ready. She knew from the get-go that people were going to die trying to make sure that Olympus was still standing at the end of the day. But for some reason, this was different. It was the fact of being deprived of a choice, she decided. The Titans had forced her, forced all of the half-bloods and humans and whoever else existed to watch in horror as the first Game was played. The thought of the atrocities committed in there made her sick. And to top it all off, no one was given a choice. No one was allowed to say no to the Titans, to refuse to fight. Even thinking of speaking out against the Games punished, and Lyca knew many people who had been punished for speaking out against the Titans. You were locked into the arena regardless, and there were only two ways out: the chamber doors in victory, or in body-bags.<p>

The first Game was fought with humans, normal humans who hardly had any idea of what was going on. Lyca sighed as she ran her fingers up the wall behind her. Most half-bloods stopped even trying to understand what the humans saw through the Mist, and she was one of them. But she did feel the pain that many half-bloods felt when the humans slaughtered each other mercilessly just to come out alive. The second Game used purely monsters. Apparently some of the Titans monsters weren't quite happy with all that happened and were thirsty for more blood. Percy's brother Tyson had gone into the Games, and the Cyclops had somehow managed to overcome the odds and win the entire thing.

This one, the third Games was different. Apparently, the Titans thought that the last Game was unfair to the competitors, since Tyson was a reckoning force during the War. In order for the third one to be "fair" they decided on something special: using the half-blood heroes who fought in the War themselves to take on each other. The children of the gods were the next sacrifice. When Lyca thought about it, it actually made a little sense. The gods themselves couldn't fight in the Games; or rather it would be pointless to watch. The gods themselves couldn't die, much as the Titans could not die when the Olympians defeated them. So the next best thing was to use their children to fight in their stead. Lyca sighed slowly. She had no clue what she was up against, didn't know who would be thrown into the arena with her.

She had been in the dark for so long, she was almost blinded by the light from someone opening the door to her chamber. She could clearly hear the sound of snakes slithering on the cold concrete next to her and looked up expectantly. She'd heard the sound enough from the Battle of the Labyrinth and the Battle of Manhattan. Lyca looked up into the humanoid face of the dracaena standing above her, the serpent woman's two tails coiling and unfurling behind her.

"What do you want?" Lyca snarled lowly at the dracaena.

The monster raised its hand as if to strike her for her insolence but thought better of it. "It_sss _time for you to get ready, half-blood." The dracaena licked its lips almost hungrily, as if it was eager for the Games to start again.

Lyca glared at the dracaena but didn't make a move to stand up. After a beat or two the serpent woman's hand shot out like a cobra's strike, wrapping around Lyca's throat. "You will obey half-blood. You have no choice." The dracaena then tossed the girl towards the door. Lyca stumbled but managed to keep her balance and walk slowly, trying to let her eyes adjust to the sudden brightness of the outer rooms.

The light began to hurt her eyes, so she squinted as best she could when she heard the distinct sound of someone clucking their tongue as if in annoyance or disgust. The sound focused her attention towards the sound of the voice. Soon after, her vision began to clear and she immediately let out a soft growl, disdain coating her features. A long finger reached out to tilt her face towards the light and Lyca bit at the finger viciously. She heard a chuckle ring from the Titan's throat and it merely served to anger her more as she the dracaena restrained the half-blood once more.

"Let the little demigod go," the Titan's voice said, almost softly and ringing with a tone of sympathy. The dracaena let out a sound that reverberated like a snort against Lyca's ears before roughly dropping the girl on the floor of the largely empty room. The monster slithered its way out of the room before the Titan began to speak again.

"Welcome half-blood," he said with almost a sense of glee. "Welcome to the Games."

Lyca glared at the Titan. She didn't know why, but the mere sight of this particular Titan angered her like no other. This Titan that dressed himself in a pitch black tuxedo, complete with black bow tie and a starch white tuxedo shirt. His hand, the one that had reached out to touch Lyca toyed with a blood red rose pinned to his lapel. She watched as he again leaned closer to her, his ponytail flowing over his shoulder. She spat in anger at the Titan, her saliva beginning to drip from his face before the radiation of the Titan's sheer power evaporated it. He drew a handkerchief from a back pocket and delicately dabbed at his face, even though there was no longer anything staining him, once again a figure of perfection.

"Traitor!" Lyca raged bitterly. "Prometheus you're a traitor to the gods!"

Prometheus began to pace slowly in the room. "Dear child, I am no traitor," he spoke in a sickeningly sweet tone. "If you'll remember, I was the one that brought the peace treaty to Percy Jackson. I tried to save you, all of you. It was Jackson's decision to surrender, a decision he refused to make. In fact, the Olympians, they are the traitors. At birth, they betrayed their own father. When I sided with them in the Great War, they betrayed me afterwards, leaving me to suffer on the side of a mountain! And even you," he returned to Lyca, looking into her eyes. "Even you, dear child. The Olympians betrayed you and your demigod brethren. Your own parents did not come to see about you, no matter what trouble you were in. When Kronos and his army marched on Manhattan, you were left alone by the Olympians. Even now, the Olympians will watch and not help as you are thrown into the arena to be at the mercy of the Games."

Lyca could do nothing but glower at the Titan in front of her. It took all she had within her to refrain from outright snarling at Prometheus. "Well," he said finally. "It seems you ought to be left with your thoughts while the rest of the contenders are prepared for the Games. Good luck to you, and may the…_gods_ be in your favor."

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><p>Lyca found herself looking around. After she assured herself she was alone for what might be the last time, she gave herself one final look-over. Black sweatpants rode low on her hips, each leg having two pockets on it. She had been supplied with a sturdy pair of black boots. The shirt they had given her was white and sleeveless, which made it a bit easier in the early goings of the Games to be seen by the opposition. It was also slightly cropped, baring a little more skin than she was used to or cared to show. She bit at her lip bitterly, hoping that the least the Titans could do is make the arena a little warm so that the participants didn't freeze to death while fighting to the death. She slipped her hand into her pockets, her fingers brushing against a fabric different from the one that made up her pants. She tugged on the fabric, pulling a pair of long gloves out of her pocket. She looked the black gloves over before pulling them on her hands, not knowing what might be waiting on her once she made it into the arena and not wanting to take the chance. The gloves had no fingers and reached from her slender knuckles to her elbows, and the palms were reinforced, as was the back of the hands.<p>

As she glanced over herself, coming to grips with the fact that the odds were largely against her in the Games, a voice boomed from a speaker she did not know was in her room. "Will all competitors pleased stand on the insignias placed in your chambers?" It commanded, almost peacefully, which Lyca considered ironic considering the brutal slaughter that was going to take place soon. The half-blood stared at the floor, looking for the insignia that the voice talked about. Before long, she noticed a symbol resembling crisscrossed arrows with a lyre emblazoned atop them. She shrugged, hoping that that was what she was supposed to stand on so she could get this over with. Gingerly she stepped onto the floor symbols, awaiting further instructions.

Then the voice resounded throughout the chamber again. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" the voice boomed. "WELCOME AND LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"

Almost immediately, the insignia under Lyca's feet began to rise, becoming a platform carrying her up through a tunnel in her chamber to the arena above. Her heart slammed hard against her chest erratically. Her body knew it was time; the Games were about to begin.

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><p><strong>I've been trying to write a decent Percy Jackson story for about a year now and couldn't think of anything that would be memorable...at least, memorable for me. But then it hit me...and this story is the brain-child of what hit me. I hope you guys will enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it.<strong>

**PS: If you'd like to take a shot at it, try guessing who's parent Lyca is. (NOTE: her parent is definitely a god: and as it's been stated in the story, both Percy and Annabeth are alive and well and around Lyca's age so it certainly isn't them.) There are hints listed throughout this story, so read it over and try to pick out the (hopefully) subtle clues I left. I haven't decided when I will reveal the parentage: Lyca knows, but isn't sure she's ready to share the information yet. **

**Also, the pairing in this story has both Percy and Jason because, as the story evolves, both Greek campers and Roman campers will have great roles in this story. **


	2. The First Sacrifices

Lyca felt the platform moving upward through the tunnel, gradually picking up speed as it rocketed towards the arena where the half-blood competitors would make a last stand to come out alive. The tunnel was pitch black; she couldn't even see her hand in front of her face, much less the walls of the tunnel around her. She took deep breaths, trying to slow down her heart-rate so that she could focus on her plan for the arena. She knew from watching the first Games how the beginning worked; all participants would surround a pile of valuable items in the dead center of the arena. Dotting the battlefield were random items, a sack, maybe a weapon or two hidden in the grass. But the good weapons were in the pile: every person in the arena would run for the pile to get some of the best weapons and food and protection and in the end, almost a third of the competitors would be dead by the end of day one.

That's why her plan was to grab something small and easy to carry and run. It didn't make sense to stay and fight: she figured that at least some of the demigods were bigger and stronger than her. She was a camper, and she'd learned to use her speed and agility to her advantage, but that would only do so much, and with everyone in the arena potentially trying to kill her, it would just get her killed quicker. Better to hole up for a moment and wait until the stronger ones took each other out before picking her own battles.

Lyca looked up. There was a glowing spot above her that was slowly growing in size. It's almost time, she thought to herself. Her heart rate spiked as her vision increased. She could almost see how carelessly dug the tunnel had been, where clumps of dirt hung from the walls. She decided to focus on the light above her, to focus on the hell the Titans were putting her and her brethren through.

The platform had been moving faster than she'd originally thought. Almost immediately Lyca began blinking rapidly against the harshness of the sunlight. She wondered why the sun seemed so violent on this day. The heat of the sun bore down on the half-blood, warming her skin rapidly. She peeked through her eyelashes at the sun, realizing why the sun was bearing down on the participants like it was. Apollo no longer drove the sun across the sky; he was imprisoned with the rest of the Olympians. Hyperion was the Titan of light; she assumed that it was he that drove the chariot of the Sun across the sky every day. The Titan was severely harsher than Apollo, so it only made sense to her that the Sun bore a harsher light on the world when Hyperion drove it as opposed to the sun-god.

Lyca's platform immediately slowed down before hissing to a stop. The half-blood had decided to keep her eyes closed against the harsh light of the noon Titan sun. She noticed that her platform had actually stopped and felt that her eyes had adjusted to the sudden display of light. Slowly she opened her eyes, blinking softly and looking around herself. She was no longer alone, she noted. The other fighters were present: she was finally locked into the arena, very well taking the last breaths she had ever hoped to take.

The Titans had been harsh to them. For the month leading up to the Games, the half-bloods were kept separate from one another, so that they would not have any idea who they were stepping into the arena with. Lyca supposed that the Titans had a sort of expectation of the captive demigods. With each participant in the Games having an Olympian parent, it seemed to only make sense that the half-blood children would have the ability to fight in such a manner and provide a good show.

Lyca looked to her immediate left and right and sighed slightly in relief when she realized she didn't know either of them. She glanced at the boy to her right and quickly studied his features: he was handsome, to be sure, but at the same time the boy seemed harsh from the no-nonsense expression etched on his face. In spite of the less than stellar conditions the demigods had been subjected to, this boy's blond hair was neat and tamed, though a bit long for the short, military style he had apparently been going for. His shirt was white like hers and sleeveless as well. The half-blood's arms were muscular and tan, but he didn't have on gloves like she did. She wondered if he'd searched the pockets on his sweats, but forgot that when she noticed a mark on his arm. It looked like an eagle, and it looked burned into his very skin. Beneath the eagle were some letters she couldn't quite make out. Underneath was what looked like scratches on his arm.

After noticing Lyca staring so hard at him, he turned his attention to her. His look was solid and hard, as if he was ready to fight his way out of here, but not bloodthirsty like she had known people to go into this fight thinking.

Before she could speak to him, she felt a slight tug on her body, like it was being willed into the center of the ring of half-bloods.

"Fight the pull," the boy spoke suddenly, shifting his weight back from the center of the arena. Lyca looked at him strangely, wondering what he meant. "Hyperion's been ordered to kill any half-blood that moves from their platform before the fight starts." Lyca merely nodded to the boy before pulling away from the unseen force.

The power became stronger and stronger until the energy was almost visible. Lyca began to shudder from the power emanating from the center of the arena. The energy began to mold together and take form, easily melting into the appearance of a man. When the power finally collided in a small burst of energy, the figure before them was now completely visible. Aside from the crisp white toga he would have looked human. But Lyca knew he wasn't human, at least not any longer. He even looked the same as always, save for his eyes, now bright gold instead of blue like before. The scar down his face was still present, and Lyca forced herself to swallow the name that had almost slipped out of her throat.

"Welcome demigods," the Titan spoke, casting a twisted, evil grin on his captive audience. "Don't look down, my children. Be honored that you will fight here and die here and all to the glory of me and my brothers!" His voice was distorted, ringing in different pitches, leaking the voice of the Titan's poor victim-host. "NOW," the Lord of Time boomed out over the half-bloods, "LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"

Immediately Kronos disappeared, opening a rift and passing through out of the arena. An announcer's voice replaced the Lord of all Titans. "The Games will begin in 5…4…3…2…1…" Suddenly the sun unleashed a powerful surge, alerting the half-bloods to begin the Games.

For a moment, Lyca had no clue what was going on. There was chaos all around her, all plans and strategies tossed out the window as soon as Hyperion loosed his built up energy above them. At this point, only instinct was keeping Lyca alive, the ADHD that all demigods were born with causing her to duck and dodge and dive exactly when necessary. She could hear the fierce clang of metal as celestial bronze and imperial gold clashed within the arena. She dared a glance at the dwindling pile of weapons as it was sacked by the half-blood fighters surrounding her and slaughtering each other. Immediately her attention was arrested by a weapon uncovered from the midst of the others: a bow made of celestial bronze curved at the tips and coupled with a quiver of arrows also coated in celestial bronze. She managed to note that the bow was unstrung before having to duck as a spearman lunged at her in an attempt to earn a quick kill. Before he could refocus on her, the boy who had helped Lyca engaged the spearman with a stubby short sword. He jabbed at the boy with the spear, causing him to back away unsteadily and yelled at Lyca: "Run! Go for the woods!"

Lyca didn't think twice, didn't hesitate to run, even to question why that boy didn't run as well. Her legs just bounded over the dust and grass of the field as she raced for the tree line. As she ran, she spied a white bag sitting in front of her. Without a second thought she scooped up the bag and slung it over her shoulder and kept moving for the trees. The sounds of battle began to decrease, and Lyca knew that either she was getting farther away or that more half-bloods were dying.

Just at the tree line Lyca saw a glint in the grass; desperate to have something to defend herself with, the half-blood altered her run so that she would have the time to grab whatever was in the grass and still be able to continue running into the brush. As her hand grasped one end of the belt, another hand reached out as well. Out of sheer instinct, Lyca rotated swiftly, balling her reinforced hand up and smashing it into her opponent's face as she yanked hard on the belt, pulling it free from the unlucky half-blood's grasp. She chanced a look at her attacker before dashing off into the forest, and saw his blond hair ruffling as he fell to the ground, holding his face tenderly.

Lyca crashed through the foliage, desperately trying to get far enough away from the battle as possible. After listening to her panting heaves for air for ten minutes she stopped running, hoping to catch her breath before she had to be on the move again. She had run so hard that she hadn't even bothered to check her new-found bag or what was in the belt that she had fought so hard for. She sat under a wide tree in hopes that it would hide her from the remnant of fighters after the battle. She dropped the bag to the ground in front of her and fastened the belt to her sweatpants. She realized that the belt housed a pair of clip-point hunting knives and sighed in relief. Knives weren't her primary weapon, but she learned how to utilize knives first as a weapon and could make do until she got a more suitable weapon. Lyca leaned against the tree to catch her breath before opening the bag, finding a length of rope and two empty bottles. She sighed aloud. "At least I have something to hold water with," she muttered softly.

"Yeah," a voice spoke, startling Lyca. "Too bad you won't have a use for any of that stuff. See, the thing is, I'm going to kill you now. And you won't have to worry about anything ever again." The half-blood looked up into the face of a broad-shouldered, bulky boy, about seventeen, dressed similarly to her but armed with a two-handed blade. "Now," he said eerily, "You can go the easy way…or the hard way."

Lyca swallowed, knowing that now was the beginning. There was no turning back, no running away. She stood slowly, eyeing the large half-blood in front of her. "How about you go the hard way?" she retorted, drawing a knife from her belt.

The beefy half-blood choked out a laugh. "You threaten me with such a small, puny blade? I will smash you to pieces before you can touch me," he exclaimed as he drew his dreaded blade of celestial bronze. Lyca looked into his eyes briefly to see his eyes were red, blood-red as the field where everything started was.

"You've given into the bloodlust haven't you?" Lyca asked him, circling around him, putting him between her and the tree.

He pounded his chest proudly. "I am Maximos, son of Ares, the God of War! I gladly welcome this gift from my father. I will use it to gain glory by defeating the best of the armies that fought in the war! You cannot defeat me!"

Lyca's face fell into a scowl. "You wanna bet?" she snarled at him, drawing the other blade in an icepick grip. "Ladies first," she taunted him.

With a large war cry, Maximos charged at Lyca, blade slashing the air brutally. Silently, Lyca counted off his steps in her head before rolling under his blade and springing up behind him. "Hey, Max." With a grunt, he turned around to face his adversary. "You're dumber than the Minotaur." With a loud cry, he rushed Lyca again, the bloodlust dulling his senses and causing him to swing wildly at her. Lyca braced herself before springing towards him, slipping under his blade and deflecting the attack with her hunting knife, rotating under him and slashing at him. With another quick step away from him, Lyca stood, waiting for the son of Ares to get back on his feet.

Maximos spun quickly to face Lyca before wincing: a cut ran up his arm, drawing blood and stinging the wound with his sweat. "What was that you said? That you would 'smash me to pieces' before I even got close to you?" Lyca spoke calmly. Maximos snapped; he let his rage and the bloodlust mix and form a formidable weapon in himself. With a growl more animal than anything, the son of Ares charged again.

Lyca grasped one of her knives by the blade between two fingers, knowing that this knife wasn't made to throw and sent it flying, intending to nail the half-blood between the eyes and give him a painless death. Instead, the blade buried itself in Maximos' arm. Lyca swore under her breath; she knew she would've had to have been lucky to hit him where she wanted to with a knife not made for throwing, but she had been hoping that her dad would give her a little help here. But the blade was jammed in his shoulder; it would do enough to slow him down enough for Lyca to finish the job.

Maximos got close, swinging his blade wildly, as if he'd had no actual training whatsoever in using the weapon. Lyca stepped within his guard, silently daring him to strike her. Swing after swing, Lyca ducked and dodged and slid around Maximos' large, clumsy form trading each missed blow for a slash with her hunting knife.

After ducking a fatal blow from the son of Ares, Lyca slashed behind her, cutting deep into Maximos. She turned to look at him, skin flecked with his own blood, gashes in his beefy torso and legs, and her other knife plunged deep within the shoulder of the half-blood. Maximos sank to his knees, raggedly breathing shallow breaths. Lyca searched his eyes, no longer filled with rage or bloodlust, but with something else entirely. Acceptance. Lyca sighed slowly. She knew why Maximos had chosen her. He didn't want to die at the hands of someone sated with the same bloodlust that had taken him. He wanted an honorable death from a worthy opponent. Lyca gripped the knife still encased in the barely living shell of the son of Ares and pulled it out, laying it in the grass next to her. She placed a hand on his shoulder, before placing the hunting knife against his heart. Maximos struggled to nod his head as if to say, "Go on. Finish this. Don't let me die like that. Don't let me die like an animal."

Lyca whispered two words she had never felt more truly about before: "I'm sorry." She squeezed the handle and pushed it, plunging the blade into Maximos' heart. And as his eyes rolled back into his head, acceptance made way for another emotion…peace. She laid the fallen half-blood against the tree she first encountered him at, closing his eyes slowly. "Find the light and peace you could not find here Max. Rest."

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><p><strong>I hope you all enjoyed the lastest installment of "Playing the Games." I want to try to update this (and all my stories) more often, but college is a real pain. But I promise to update when I can. <strong>

**So, have you guessed who her Olympian parent is yet? A couple more hints in this chapter, but not as much as the first...if you know what to look for. Btw: next chapter has some Percy and Annabeth in it, maybe even some other familiar half-bloods. **

**Before I go...can you guess what's strange about Kronos? And do you all know who was next to Lyca in the tournament? Or who she knocked out (not killed) in the tournament to get the hunting knives? I wanted to stay as true to Rick Riordan when I wrote those descriptions so I studied the characters meticulously to portray them correctly.**

**All in all, Happy reading and Reviews are appreciated.**


	3. Easy Alliances

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow! Percy Jackson! Slow down, I can't keep up!" Annabeth grimaced in pain as she clutched at the pain in her leg. She peeled back part of her sweatpants, sticky with her blood and looked at the wound closely. It was hard to see because it was getting dark in the arena, but she could tell that, although the cut wasn't fatal in the least, it would hamper her movements and cause her pain. She limped along after Percy, irritatingly blowing a strand of blond hair from her eyes. She hated that she'd gotten injured so easily, even though Percy swore over and over that the boy had merely been lucky with his strike. It didn't matter to her though: she was Annabeth Chase for crying out loud! She'd led a team of half-bloods through Daedalus' labyrinth and managed to get out alive! She'd held the weight of the sky on her shoulders (and had a gray streak of hair to prove it)! She'd survived the Battle of the Labyrinth and the Battle of Manhattan! She was a daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy! How could she be caught off guard and be injured that way.

She called out once again and Percy returned, wiping his brow of sweat before shaking his head. "I'm sorry Annabeth," he said softly as he eased her arm over his shoulder. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and supported her weight as they began to trudge through the forest floor. She looked up at his face, barely able to make out the son of Poseidon's sea-green eyes, almost allowing a smile to play across her face before pain flashed across her leg, causing Annabeth to bite her lip in pain.

"Don't be sorry, Seaweed Brain," she told him. "It's my fault anyways. Wasn't paying attention and got caught with that random throwing knife. If it hadn't been for me, we wouldn't be in this situation."

"No Annabeth," Percy replied a little icily. "If anything, it's my fault." She stared at him as they hobbled along, asking him what he'd meant, but the son of Poseidon was silent, withdrawn and not willingly to share with his companion. That worried Annabeth, more than her leg and more than being trapped in the twisted Games of the Titans. Percy was never hard to read for Annabeth, at least most of the time, but now she honestly couldn't tell what was going on in his head, and that disturbed her. When the Titans captured their half-blood prisoners, they'd made it a point to separate Percy from Annabeth, and thus she hadn't seen her friend for almost two-and-a-half years. She'd spent that time trying to stay level-headed, to try and keep the spirits of her demigod brethren alive. At least, she could affect the persona she needed when she was around the other prisoners of war. When she was alone, she was rattled to the core. Everything had fallen apart around her and when she needed Percy to be there the most he was withheld from her and it almost drove her insane. She realized that the Titans figured out who the masterminds of the failed plot to protect Olympus was and had kept them apart to prevent them from planning again and raising a rebel army from the prisoners. And then, to add insult to injury, both she and Percy were locked into the Games, to be forced to potentially kill each other or at least watch helplessly as someone else did the job. Annabeth visibly shuddered at the thought and refused to think further than that and decided to focus on the positive. She was here, relatively safe and with Percy again. What the Titans didn't plan on was that, even in the confines of the arena, Annabeth was planning and strategizing, observing every detail that might help her bust out with Percy.

"You okay, Wise Girl?" Percy asked Annabeth, noticing her shudder and sudden lack of movement while they made their way through the foliage. "Do we need to stop for the night?"

Annabeth looked Percy in the eyes before rolling her own and thumping him in the forehead with her thumb. "No Seaweed Brain, I don't need to rest or stop. Let's keep going." Annabeth tried to support her own weight and stride off confidently but winced and stumbled on her leg, only barely steadied by Percy keeping her from falling.

The son of Poseidon had to fight to keep a straight face. "As you were saying, Wise Girl?"

Annabeth groaned softly, staring him in the face again. "Shut up, Seaweed Brain," she said, although she was glad inside to see a little bit of the Percy Jackson she'd known such a long time ago.

They continued to walk slowly as dusk turned into night, not hearing a sound from any other half-bloods still in the arena. When Percy saw a small cluster of trees, he tugged the daughter of Athena along. "Come on," he told her. "Let's head for those trees and rest for the night." Annabeth nodded, limping beside him. Percy laid Annabeth against an alcove made from two of the larger trees in the cluster and then put his finger over his lips. "I'll be right back Wise Girl. I'm going to make sure we're safe here." Annabeth nodded and pulled her dagger from her other hip, knowing that Percy would understand that she would keep watch from where she was.

As Percy stalked off, she stared at the dagger in her hands. It glowed with the same dull glow that all celestial bronze weapons did, but it didn't feel the same to her. She wrinkled her nose at the thought of the weapon she was holding. It was a celestial bronze dagger, but it wasn't _hers. _She sighed gently. She had no idea where that dagger would even be at. She'd lost it on Mount Olympus and chances were it was still up there. When they were captured, they were rid of all weapons and magical items.

Annabeth heard footsteps around the trees and bolted up for a second, but quickly relaxed when Percy slipped through a gap in the trees to sit across from her. "So far, so good," he whispered softly. "There's no one anywhere near us here far as I could tell. We should be fine for the night. We'll think of something in the morning." Percy jabbed his sword into the ground, and it produced a dull light for them. He tried to give Annabeth a smile, but it was a forced one, and he could not maintain it for long. The daughter of Athena knew that Percy felt the same way about his own weapon. He'd lost Riptide fighting with Kronos, and when they'd been captured, the sword didn't come back to him. This new weapon probably was too heavy, or too light, or just plain unbalanced for Percy.

She felt bad for him. So many things were off and she couldn't help him put the pieces back together…or rather, he wouldn't let her help. But all the same, she insisted on doing what she could for him. Annabeth forced herself back to her feet, using the trees as a crutch and limping her way to the son of Poseidon. She tripped over a root and collapsed, falling into the wiry, strong arms of Percy. The half-blood looked down into his arms, curling them around the girl in his lap. He took a glance at her thigh where she'd be cut, peeling back the cut-up sweatpants. "Are you okay? Can you move your leg?"

She stretched her leg and hissed in pain. "Only a little bit. It's too dark for me to be able to see, so I don't know what's wrong with it." He nodded and pulled her closer to him and opening his water bottle. He focused on the bottle until his gut clenched and the water leapt out and covered his hand.

Annabeth looked at him. "I thought you couldn't heal anymore."

Percy shrugged. "I can't. But we should still keep it clean and stuff." He placed his hand on the wound and gently massaged it. He could sense the water filling with blood and dirty and pulled his hand away, allowing the mess to fall away from his hand. He ripped off a part of his shirt and wrapped it around Annabeth's wound, prepared to tie it tight. Silently, she clamped down on his arm, steadying herself for the brief pain it would cause her.

When it was done, Annabeth looked up at him. "Thanks Seaweed Brain."

"No problem, Wise Girl. You'd do the same thing for me, and probably do it better too," he mentioned with a laugh. Annabeth smiled at him and looked into his sea-green eyes and found them completely focused on her for the first time in two-and-a-half years. Without noticing, she placed a hand on Percy's chest, using it to pull herself level with his own face. Percy looked at her, slightly confused as to what she was up to. In her head, she knew that he needed someone to be there for him. And if they weren't going to make it out of this arena alive, she wanted him to know that she was always going to be there for him. She leaned forward and captured his lips with her own, locking them into a searing kiss.

* * *

><p>Lyca groaned as she stretched, waking her limbs up to get going for the day. She was still trying to shake the memory of killing that son of Ares the day before. She'd killed before, even killing enemy half-bloods, but killing him had unnerved her. She rotated her shoulders and hips while she thought to herself. She came to the conclusion that she was unnerved only because the boy had actually wanted to die, had been so broken that he wanted nothing more than release in the Underworld. The half-blood repacked her bag and looked around herself in an attempt to decide where to go next. She assumed that some of the others in the arena had chosen to make alliances with each other to increase the odds of winning or to eliminate the powerhouses in the Games.<p>

She picked a direction that wasn't towards the field that she'd run from yesterday and began to walk, lost in her own thoughts and the necessity to survive, adopted from her namesake, her father's sacred animal. Lyca padded along quietly, watching her surroundings carefully. She remembered last night, when the Titans showed the world (and the captives of the Games) who had been killed in the arena. In her head, Lyca counted off eight half-bloods dead, which left sixteen in the arena that day. She shook her head, knowing that more would join them by the end of the night. At the same time though, she was a little happy because the boy who'd helped her twice hadn't been one of the ones killed; in fact, Lyca had only recognized one boy in the arena that had died. She remembered watching how he died when the Titans showed off their glory: the boy must have been a son of Hephaestus, because he had been bent over a bunch of scraps, trying to piece together something that would help him fight when he was speared from behind by another boy, lost in the bloodlust of the arena.

As she made her way through the trees, she had decided that the best thing was to try and find someone who would make an alliance with her. At this rate, her best chance of survival was to team up with someone. Now she just needed to think of the right person to team up with. She tucked a stray strand of brown hair behind her ear as she moved, hoping at the very least to keep out of sight.

Lyca managed to travel for a couple more hours before she began to realize she was getting hungry. Inwardly, she swore, knowing that she'd forgotten something vital to her survival. _They wouldn't have us fight in here unless there was food,_ Lyca thought to herself, scanning the immediate area for some kind of food. She walked with her head up, looking through the trees for some kind of fruit or maybe an animal she could kill and cook. She had been so focused on the search for food that she didn't notice she had stumbled into the path of a contender in the arena until she heard the snap of a twig.

Lyca's eyes snapped forward to see what made the sound as she unsheathed both of her daggers, prepared to fight again. What she saw was a boy watching her, his stubby short sword drawn. Her slender body began to drop low as she prepared to defend herself from this new threat. When the boy stepped closer, she noticed his blond hair and a familiar hard look etched in his face. Lyca slowly sidestepped, analyzing the boy in front of her with amber eyes. "It's you," she finally admitted, still on guard but coming out of her stance.

The boy blinked, and Lyca saw electric blue eyes following her every movement. "You're the girl from the platform. You killed that Ares kid." He still held tight to his sword, but held his by his side instead of pointing it towards her.

Lyca nodded stiffly, still seeing the boy's lifeless eyes as she dealt his final blow. "And you killed that guy with the spear who was coming at me."

"Yeah I did," the boy admitted. "What you did for the son of Ares, giving him an honorable death, I thought it was good that you did that for him."

"Thanks," Lyca said warily. "So, what about you? Are you going to attack me, or what?"

The boy used his sword to point at her. "I could say the same about you. You look like a wolf about to pounce on me."

"Seen a lot of wolves in your time?" Lyca asked him.

"I've seen a few," the boy responded, allowing the smallest of smiles to cross his face. "So, what are we going to do here?"

"Well, I'm not going to just put down my weapons."

The boy reached for his sheath and untied it from his waist and put the sword in it, holding it out in front of him. "Your turn." Lyca hesitated for a moment, as if it was a trap. She thought about it though: if he was going to kill her, he'd have let her die yesterday and not even had to deal with it now. She sheathed both blades and unstrapped the belt, holding it at her side. "On three, we throw them to that tree over there," he gestured with his head.

Lyca nodded, still tensed to jump and attack the boy with her own bare hands if she had to. "One…two…three!" She tossed the daggers toward the tree and watched the sword float through the air and land beside her daggers.

"So," Lyca started, "What's our next step?"

The boy stared at her. "Well, I'd settle for your name," he said finally, crossing his arms.

"My name is Lyca Bowyer," she told him, keeping her distance from her.

The boy walked up to her, extending his hand to her. "I'm Jason. Jason Grace."

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><p><strong>AN: Well I hope you guys are enjoying the story. I promised you Percy and Annabeth, and you got Percy and Annabeth. In addition, you guys got Jason, and I have to wonder how many of you knew that Jason was the one she was seeing...wait...I guess I pretty much gave that one away with his tattoo last chapter...oh well. Still two other unknowns to solve: the boy Lyca backhanded and her godly father. I will say this: no relation to Percy or Jason, and her hair and eye color don't speak to inherited traits from her father. But you might want to find out what Lyca means for a clue as to who her father is. He happens to use that animal for a sacred animal. Good luck!**

**Reviews are loved and appreciated!**


	4. Greeks and Romans

The raven-haired half-blood looked towards the east, watching the Titan Hyperion coasting boastfully into the sky. _That should be Apollo_, she intoned to herself, slightly bitter-sounding in her ear. When she stilled her thoughts and her body, she could hear the nearby river rushing over the coastline. She grimaced and huffed slightly, feeling homesick. Beside her, a peanut butter-colored pegasus whinnied softly, nudging her shoulder with his snout. "I know, Scipio," she said gently, petting the pegasus's nose absently. "It doesn't sound like the Little Tiber. Doesn't feel like home."

"It's because it isn't home, Praetor," a small voice said behind her. The half-blood froze for merely a second before gathering her mask around her, the mask that helped her lead her people. She turned, her dark eyes piercing as she stared at the senior centurion behind her.

"Dakota," she acknowledged with a nod.

The son of Bacchus crossed his arm over his chest in salute before speaking again. "Pluto's ambassador claims that he has something to tell you." She merely stared at him, silent to the information given to her. "He said that it was important. That it was something big."

She nodded shortly, but didn't say a word. Instead, she dismissed the centurion with a salute and a wave of her own hand, and she turned to the pegasus next to her. "Come Scipio. Let us see what the Greek wants."

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><p>The praetor walked her pegasus to the small collapsing building where the remnants of the half-bloods stored their horses and pegasi. Gently she stroked its nose while she fished an apple from the folds of her robe. "I'll be back soon," she whispered to Scipio before striding off purposefully, her robes billowing out behind her.<p>

She walked the deserted streets alone, knowing that most of the half-bloods were inside at this time, and with good reason. Generally, half-bloods, especially half-bloods with weapons and armor, would be captured, and one of two things would happen: either be killed on the spot, or subjected to the Games. She sniffed hard as stale air entered her lungs, and it made her snort. When she regained control of her breathing, she continued to walk on. She was lucky, she decided. The only reason that their entire army hadn't been captured at this point in time was because the city that they occupied had already been razed almost to the ground by the Titans. She looked up at the remnants of the building she was going into, its top all but obliterated. Sons of Vulcan had gone in to determine how much of the building was structurally safe and had come to the conclusion that only the first 10 floors and the entire basement area were usable. Stepping into the building, she looked for the steps leading into the basement: that was where _he _stayed most of the time.

She took the steps down two at a time until she reached a door that read CAUTION: PROXIMITY TO THE DEAD. She barely managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes as she twisted the knob and pushed the door open.

Directly in front of her, there was a table littered with what at first appeared to be just junk, with papers and cups and Jupiter-knows-what. Studying closely however, revealed that some of the papers appeared to be maps of places like America and Egypt and even one of Antarctica. Behind the desk was a big leather chair that was swiveled so that the back faced the praetor. Just in front of the chair she saw a figure standing in front of it, appearing to talk eagerly with the person in the chair. Then it noticed the half-blood that entered the room and pointed at her silently. As the praetor watched, a pale hand waved gently and the figure shimmered before disappearing entirely. The chair rotated silently and she found herself face-to-face with a boy with unruly dark hair coupled with equally dark eyes. As she stared at him, he rose from his seat and strode to stand in front of the desk between him and the praetor.

"I see your centurion found you," the boy said calmly, but despite how at ease he was she shivered in his presence. _Why is it always cold around him? Maybe if he took a day off from talking to the dead…_

"He said you had something important to tell me," she replied with a straight face, crossing her arms.

He beckoned her over behind the chair, where the figure had been standing. "I've been getting some information from my friends," he said quietly. "There's big stuff going on in the outside world."

She huffed in frustration. "Well, of course there's a lot of stuff going on. The Titans have taken America by force! The entire east coast is gone! Everyone we had in the south is either gone or fled into Mexico! The west…" she wavered here momentarily, just for a moment, that only the dead that inhabited this space could tell that she was wavering. "The west was scattered…"

He blinked at the praetor, almost unflinching and unmoving, his hand unconsciously floating to the hilt of the pitch black sword he wore at his side, gripping the handle so tightly that his already pale hand turned white. "That's not what I mean, Reyna," he said hoarsely. "The dead have been going crazy. They haven't been agitated like this for a year. That only tells me one thing: the Games have started again."

Reyna sucked in a breath quickly through gritted teeth. "Again?" she asked him. When he nodded slowly, she seemed to get even wearier. "How bad is it?"

"Now that's the thing," he began, holding her gaze. "It seems the Titans are rubbing it in the Olympians' faces. They're using the prisoners of war from the War. They're using the children of the gods."

Her dark eyes flashed. "Then…that means…Jason?"

His head merely nodded slowly again. "He's in there, along with Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase and about twelve other half-bloods." Reyna looked at him with wide eyes. "The Games have been going on for a day already," he finished quietly, answering the question Reyna never asked.

"What about our augur? What about Octavian?"

This time the boy shrugged. "I haven't heard anything about him. I don't know if he's even in the Games. I can tell you he isn't dead…I've got his name out in the Underworld. When he dies, they will send a spirit to tell me."

"Great," the praetor muttered softly. "How are we going to get Jason out now? We need him if we're going to even have a chance to fight back."

The Greek's eyes clouded over briefly. "He isn't the only one worth saving from the Titans. Jackson was our leader, and nobody could strategize like Annabeth. Not to mention all of the other half-bloods in that arena that are left, or the ones that are locked up Zeus-knows-where! This isn't just about him. Besides, as far as powerful half-bloods go, did you forget the daughter of Zeus that we still have out there trying to give us a little breathing room on the battlefield? Or the son of Poseidon still trapped in the Games? Or the son of Hades in front of you who now has to lead the army of the Greeks _and _be the be-all-and-end-all for the Underworld?" The Greek huffed in frustration. "I mean, when Hades was captured, it was up to me to keep order in the Underworld! I had to call my sister from the Elysium Fields just to maintain order, especially now that I'm here." He stared hard at the praetor in front of him. "The Underworld is the last stronghold we still have against the Titans, and our grip on that is slipping. There is more to do than just bust out Jason."

"You're right," she said, clearly not happy that she had been thinking out of emotion and not logically or strategically. "So, what do you propose we do?"

The Greek gave a small smile, and it startled Reyna. She'd been leading their ragtag troops with this boy for maybe a year and a half, and she'd never seen him smile or anything. "Our Oracle has had a vision. She knows what we need to do in order to come out on top." He gestured to Reyna. "Come on, we need to go see her."

* * *

><p>Lyca and Jason picked their way through the underbrush of the forest, both paying special attention to their surroundings. They'd immediately decided that the Titans weren't likely to play fair in the Games, especially if people weren't dying, and were on the lookout for any tricks that their captors might have in store.<p>

Lyca chanced a quick glance behind her at Jason, whose gaze kept darting around from her to the trees to the hill on their left. His blond hair hung in his face, but didn't appear to bother him much. Before going back to look around for any traps, she noticed that his hand gripped the hilt of his sword tightly as they marched along. The half-blood didn't blame him at all; her own fingers were either hooked into her belt or wrapped around one of her clip-point knives. It was a means of grounding themselves: to make sure that they had _something_ that was solid, that was real in their hands, anchoring them to reality. It was also for protection, though not necessarily from each other. At least, she wasn't thinking she needed protection from him. She may have been untrusting in the beginning, but she felt inside her for some odd reason that he had been telling the truth. She didn't know if he trusted her entirely, but he'd been the first to disarm himself when they first met, and he had been more cordial. She knew that this was only temporary; only one person could ever win but she sincerely hoped that she wouldn't need to be the one to end it all for him.

She looked up at the sky and noticed that Hyperion had driven his angry sun almost halfway across the sky. She glanced back at Jason, who managed to meet her amber eyes. "You wanna stop for a minute?" she asked him.

He looked her over for a minute, and she felt his gaze almost piercing with his blue eyes. "Sure," he said after a minute. "I could use some water, maybe even something to eat."

Lyca nodded slowly. "I think there's a river nearby," she said to him. "I've got two bottles. I can go fill them and bring you some back."

"Then that leaves me the task of trying to find something we can eat," he sighed. "What I wouldn't give for a cheeseburger right now."

The thought made Lyca smile despite herself, and she made her way to the banks of the river. She watched the river for a moment, watching for fish or other signs of life to prove that the water wasn't poisoned, since the river nymphs had all retreated deep within themselves after the fall of Olympus. She prayed that the Titans weren't that cruel, to let the fighters die of thirst in the arena. When she looked closer to the water, she could see fish swimming up and down the river; she grinned to herself and began to fill the bottles with water. Lyca set the water bottles aside and slowly peeled her gloves off before kneeling before the river and splashing her face with water. The half-blood used part of her shirt to pat her face dry and pulled her gloves back on, deciding that it was time to head back and see how Jason had been faring.

* * *

><p>Upon her return, Lyca found Jason collapsed on the ground, dusty from the dirt he'd kicked up.<p>

"What happened to you?" Lyca asked him.

"I went searching for something, anything to eat," Jason replied shortly. "I couldn't find any animals, but then I remembered that we didn't have anything to cook them with. Then I looked up into the trees," he continued, pointing up.

"Apples," Lyca uttered softly as Jason nodded his head in agreement.

"I tried climbing up, but I got halfway there before I fell out of the tree. I'm alright, just a little bruised."

Lyca nodded at him, tossing him a water bottle. "The water's good," she told him. As for the apples, well…maybe I can get them down." _If I can work out throwing with hunting knives. _

Lyca drew one of her knives, grabbing it between her thumb and forefinger and aiming at the apples hanging overhead. She took one last look at Jason. "You might want to move back, and maybe cover your head," she said. The half-blood moved back slowly, his eyes watching Lyca as she tossed the knife into the trees. He looked on as the girl drew the other knife and threw it up into the trees as the other knife came crashing down from above, bringing down with it a big, delicious apple. Lyca pulled her knife from the apple and started again as the other knife fell, eventually collecting a small number of apples for the taking.

When Lyca waved him over, Jason came back, picking up an apple and crossing his legs as he sat nearby. Lyca grabbed an apple and took her seat, drying one of the knives on her pants and sheathing it. She took the other knife and began cutting into the apple, breaking off pieces and popping them into her mouth. Jason grinned, staring at his own apple before taking a large bite out of it. "This has to be the best apple I've ever had," he mumbled around the piece of apple in his mouth.

Lyca smiled and nodded in agreement, although she remained silent as she ate. Jason swallowed what he'd eaten and held Lyca's attention. "You're pretty good with those things," he mentioned, taking another bite of his apple.

She looked at the knife in her hand and smiled a little. "Yeah," she said. "My mom taught me when I was growing up."

"Really?" he said, slightly shocked. "Usually parents are telling kids not to play with knives, and your mom just puts one in your hands." She shook his head playfully.

Lyca nodded. "Yup. But the thing is, she knew from the get-go that I was special. She knew what she'd be getting into with my father. She told me that was one of the reasons why he chose her." She looked at him when he remained silent, noting a brooding look on his face. "What about your family?" she asked him.

He sighed. "I don't know. I never really did. I remember a couple of things, but not a lot. I went to camp and they just sort of took me in. But enough about me. I wanna know more about the toddler that knife-fights." Lyca knew that there was more, but also knew that he'd just shut her out.

"Well," she started, picking up a second apple. "I'm half Native American, half Caucasian."

"How?" Jason asked her. "With your father being-,"

"I know," she replied. "I inherited my race from my mom. Her grandfather was Caucasian and her mother was Native-American. So she came out that way, and I followed suit. She kept close ties with her roots, and since she knew I was this special, she wasted no time in preparing me. I started with knives. It took some practice, but I got the hang of it. That's when I went to camp. And I found my true calling."

"What was that?" Jason asked her.

Lyca prepared to answer, but was cut short by a large roar. The demigods both looked to the hill, where what seemed like a centaur stood menacing. She noticed horns and a gruesome look on his face and immediately knew that this wasn't one of Chiron's more eccentric 'cousins'. Jason grasped his sword and drew it slowly as Lyca swore under her breath.

"You ready?" Jason asked her.

"Well, I was hoping to have seconds, but why not?" she retorted drily, drawing both knives.

Seeing the glint of celestial bronze must have drove the thing crazy, because it roared again and barreled down the hill and would've run the half-bloods over had they not rolled out of the way. It reared back and rotated, facing Lyca. Immediately she dropped low, ready to strike when ready. When it bellowed again, she thought it better to try and end it now by leaping towards it, blades held ready to silence it. Instead, she felt herself spinning out of the air and barely managed to catch herself, rolling into a kneel with her palm outstretched in front of her for balance. She gripped her knives harder and rushed the monster, managing to cut a gash in its side, which caused it to howl in pain. In response, its horse-half kicked out at her, which she jumped back to avoid, causing her to run into a sharp elbow from the monster. Lyca hit the ground hard, but forced herself to her feet, frantically looking for Jason and wondering why he hadn't been helping. She paled slightly when she saw that his hands were essentially tied as he fended off another of the same species that was giving her a lot of trouble. It tried to catch her off-guard and reared back, trying to slam its hooves into a demigod that wasn't there when it looked again. Lyca had ducked under, rolling away from the deadly hooves and carved another gash into the beast before perching on its back, trying to end it with a well-placed slash. As she set up for the finishing blow, she felt large hands grip her and fling her from her perch and into the ground. She looked up and saw the monster hovering over her, bellowing in pride before making its kill. Suddenly, its cry was cut short, and Lyca could only see gold sticking from the back of the monster before it began dissolving like all monsters did. Hitting the ground with a soft thud, covered in monster dust was Jason, gold sword where he had stabbed the beast through.

He shook the dust off and sheathed his sword before standing over Lyca, offering her his hand. "Anyone else sick of this place?"

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><p><strong>AN: Okay, not much to say this time. At least one more small reference to who Lyca's father is. I've only gotten one guess and I'm not telling you guys if it was right or not. But I've added Reyna and a new guy in...I don't know why I like to keep you guys guessing, but it works for me. Don't worry, I won't leave you in the dark there: if you don't know who he is by now, I'll tell you next time you see him. Hope you liked the action. **

**Reviews are appreciated!**


	5. Prophecies and Bloodlust

**I didn't expect this chapter to be as long as I made it. I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter I've ever written. But it covers some very important pieces of information, particularly what the bloodlust is that has been mentioned multiple times before this chapter. Plus, we get our first prophecy of the story here. I hope you guys enjoy what I put together. Review and let me know what you like, or what you don't like. Happy readings.**

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><p>Reyna hated a lot of things. She hated how Lupa had left her and the remnant of the Roman citizens and campers here with a bunch of Greeks and gone on without another word. The praetor knew all too well the way the she-wolf worked, but she knew she didn't have to be happy about it. She hated that she had to deal with the Greeks without another praetor to back her up. She sorely wished for Jason to be here, but at this rate, she would've taken anyone, even that upstart descendant of Apollo, Octavian. She hated that the only place left for their broken and battered forces was the rundown ruins of the port city of Detroit. She took a longer breath in than she usually did and came up coughing and wheezing. She glared ahead at the dark hair that bobbed up and down in front of her. Maybe more than anything, she didn't really like dealing with the son of Pluto. Under other circumstances, she felt that it wouldn't be so bad. He didn't talk much, he thought pretty well on his feet. But something in her unnerved her to work with him. Maybe it was the fact that whenever she was as much as ten feet close to him, she felt an unholy chill raises the bumps on her neck. Or maybe it was the fact that the smell of death hung on him as badly as stink did on a skunk. And then he was always talking to ghosts…But he always brought back the good news that Jason Grace was still alive. That was something. To that end, she decided that she could put up with the things she didn't like in order to try and work things out and keep the peace. Tensions already ran high between the armies, and the last thing she wanted was for them to look at their leaders and see the two half-bloods bickering as much as they were.<p>

The son of Pluto stopped in front of her and Reyna had to snap out of her stupor to refrain from bumping into him. Wearily, she pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear as he opened the door that had been in front of him. It creaked and groaned heavily, as if it hadn't been opened in a long time. "The Oracle has more than one way out of this little hole," the son of Pluto told her. "So this door only gets used when someone is called to see her. As it is, not a lot of people get called to talk to her." He stood to the side, allowing the praetor to wander into the room reserved for the famed Oracle of Delphi. She looked around intently, expecting some grand figure, dressed in all white with a soft, but stern expression, offering sacrifices to her patron though he was lost in the War. What Reyna got was a girl who looked about eighteen with stark red hair and freckles plastered on her face. She had been stretching, which brought attention to the 2x-sized shirt that blanketed her thin body, along with a pair of plain jeans and completely bare feet. When she was done stretching, she dusted off her shirt when she noticed her visitors.

"Nico!" she squealed happily, rushing to the son of Pluto and embracing him warmly. "How have you been? My you've grown, has it really been that long?" She spoke rapidly, managing to unleash all of her pent-up thoughts in one long-winded sentence. What Reyna saw next simply stunned her.

The praetor of Rome watched as the dark haired youth wrapped his arms around the red head in front of them in a squeeze and a slight red flush breached his excessively pale face. She couldn't help but audibly gasp, catching the attention of the two teenagers in the room with her. She'd known Nico for a little while. Not enough for her to call him a bosom buddy or anything, but she'd been around long enough to know that Nico didn't display emotion around others. He hardly touched people, much less hug them. And she'd never, _never_ seen the son of Pluto blush at all. It was mind-boggling!

The two easily separated and the red head turned her focus to Reyna. "Who's this?" she asked politely.

Nico stepped back and rested his arm on the hilt of his sword. "This is Reyna. She is one of the praetors of Rome, staying here with what is left of her army."

The Oracle's green eyes focused on Reyna, and she had no idea what was going on behind the eyes of the red head. The closest that they'd had to an actual oracle was Octavian, because he was the augur. Even then, he himself didn't have the powers, but read the signs given to the Romans by the gods, although he never did shut up about those stupid Sibylline Books. But no actual powers. This redheaded girl in front of her wasn't just an oracle; she was _the _Oracle of Delphi. She carried the spirit of the oracle that foretold Oedipus' patricide and the birth of Theseus. Nico had told her more and revealed that Oracle had given a "Great Prophecy", and that it had foretold the destruction of Olympus that had occurred.

"Nico," Rachel whispered, her green eyes glinting in the firelight. "Does she space out often?"

The son of Hades shook his head slowly before poking Reyna in the arm. Reyna jumped, Nico's unnaturally cold hand jarring her from her thoughts. Her eyes turned onto him sharply, glaring. "What?" she growled in her throat.

"Hey, you're the one who spaced out when I introduced you," Nico shot back.

"Now guys," Rachel said, stepping between the two leaders. She placed a hand on Nico's shoulder before holding her hand level with Reyna to keep the two away from each other. "Now isn't the time to get all bent out of shape. Besides-," she stopped suddenly, her eyes slowly drifting closed.

"Great," Nico muttered, snapping his fingers while he braced the redheaded Oracle on his arm. Immediately two skeletons crawled from under the ground, dusting themselves off as they appeared. As their bodies began to surface, muscles, tendons, and skin began to form until there were two pale gray, translucent teenagers standing before him, yellow eyes focused entirely on the one who called them. "Draco, Corinna, you know your job. Get the stool." The skeletons nodded before Corinna began scuttling around the room. Draco strode to Nico and bowed respectfully before transferring Rachel from Nico to himself as Corinna returned with a silver stool, placing it under the Oracle. Without hesitation, Draco placed the redhead in the seat supporting her until her eyes opened.

When Rachel's eyes did open, a bright green mist began to flow almost from within her own body, causing Reyna to slowly move back from the two, her guard up and aware of her surroundings. "This is part of being the Oracle," Nico spoke, telling Reyna what was going on without actually addressing her. The praetor nodded, though Nico's gaze was focused on the Oracle and couldn't see Reyna behind him. Reyna's eyes looked towards Rachel's, not intentionally trying to stare into them, watching the green mist swirl until it hung on everything around them, turning Rachel's eyes green, iris, pupil, everything in her sockets turned the green of the mist. And then Rachel opened her mouth and her voice changed from the bright, sunny girl Reyna had just met to an ancient, withered voice.

"_Son of Hades, make ready to travel,_

_Your journey will force the bonds to unravel._

_Wisdom and light, the sky and the sea_

_In turn will fight, set the demigod free._

_Lightning, light and earth must shatter the cage_

_To begin the end, Titan's last age."_

Rachel's body then slumped over, but the transparent arms of Corinna were there to catch the Oracle. She immediately transferred the limp mortal's body to Draco's stronger arms as she put away the silver stool. Reyna's gasp was audible, and as Draco laid Rachel in a nearby bed, Corinna turned and gave Reyna a smile, slightly marred with her skull being visible beneath her translucent skin. Corinna draped a small blanket over the redhead, then stood beside Draco, facing Nico and awaiting further instructions.

Nico looked the two skeletons over before nodding in approval. He whispered, "Well done," then raised his hand, closing it into a fist, and lowering it slowly. Corinna and Draco both smiled before disintegrating once again, falling into a pile of bones that sank into the ground like quicksand.

"What was that?" Reyna asked him, coming to stand in front of him.

Nico turned to face her, his hand once again draped over his hilt. "That was a prophecy, praetor," he told her. He walked to a stand nearby, pouring water from a bottle on the table into a glass before walking to Rachel's side. Rachel's eyes had opened again, now her normal green eyes. Nico supported her head while she took the cup gratefully and began to drink from it.

"What does it all mean?" the praetor asked him.

Nico looked at her, a half-grin spread across his face. He startled Reyna; he had never done much but scowl and give her bored looks in all the time she'd known him. Never had he given her a half-smile, much less a full one. "It means you get your wish. We're busting Jason and Percy out of the Arena."

* * *

><p>"So," Percy said, gritting his teeth, "What do we do now?"<p>

Annabeth looked Percy over, noting that his shirt held gashes in it from the attacks that had just barely missed cleaving him in half. Fabric at one knee had been ripped away from the rest of his pants. There was a cut above his cheek from being tossed into the rough bark of a tree trying to dodge a blow and his shoulder was bleeding from a slash suffered from an enemy's blade. Despite their current position, Annabeth smiled a little, reaching to touch Percy's other shoulder. "We've been through worse, Seaweed Brain. Remember, we didn't beat Kronos, but we survived fighting him. And you survived three encounters with him. We'll get through this," she told him encouragingly.

Percy looked back at her, all at once seeing and absorbing her appearance. Her usually clean blond hair was dark and wild and her face was dirty. A strap on her shirt had been broken and her pants were torn where she'd been injured the day before. The skin around the wound was red and angry, and while she didn't show symptoms of being sick yet, Percy knew it was only a matter of time before it became necessary to clean and bandage it before she did get ill. "I hope you're right, Wise Girl," he breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath from the last fray he jumped out of. He looked out and saw the four half-bloods glaring at the two of them in the shelter of the trees. Percy gave them another once-over, noting two guys and two girls. The one boy, the one with cropped black hair and a powerful build, let out a powerful growl towards Percy and made to rush him when a bronze flash hit the ground in front of him. Percy looked over his shoulder and saw Annabeth glaring back at the boy, a throwing knife pinched between her fingers as she braced herself against a nearby tree.

The boy backed up slowly in order to regroup with the girl he'd been stalking Percy and Annabeth. Meanwhile, Percy turned, leaving his sword by the tree and supporting Annabeth before she fell in pain. "How's the leg?" he asked her.

"Oh it's just peachy," Annabeth bit out, wincing around her words. "Never felt better," she grimaced.

Leaning Annabeth against a nearby tree, Percy slouched next to her. "How long before the next attack?"

Annabeth began to breathe a little heavy, her chest heaving as she gulped in air. "Well, we've been here since last night and been attacked five times since sunrise, so…we might have an hour or two before they get antsy again."

Percy nodded almost absently. "How many of those throwing knives do you have?" he asked her, still staring hard at the tree in front of him.

_If he stares any harder at that tree, he'll burst it into flames,_ Annabeth intoned drily. "I've got four, plus a couple arrows and the bow you took from that guy."

Percy dared a look back out towards their enemy, watching the four huddled bodies gathered together while a fifth body laid on the ground a distance away, as if it was forgotten. Percy hadn't forgotten how the dead boy rushed them, proclaiming himself a son of Mercury and bellowing his victory alongside a blond girl and a redhead boy before charging with the redhead at his heels. Percy hadn't been injured at that point, but after the first few swings from the two boys, he'd been backed into a tree and cut his cheek after ducking a block when he was kicked into the tree. The tree was still marred by the gash from the heavy overhead slash where his head used to be. He kicked and punched and parried as best as he could, but he just couldn't move as well as he had before. In the back of his mind, he was still bitter about losing Riptide and knew that not having that balanced weapon didn't put him at a hundred percent in this fight. In fact, he'd only nicked one of the boys with his blade in response to being tossed around by them.

As he fought them, he couldn't help but notice the dull red glow in their eyes as he fought, but he didn't know why their eyes did that. He'd managed to redirect them closer to the hideout and managed to lodge one of their blades under his foot and flipping when the powerful boy tugged on his weapon, the effort carrying his sword far behind him. A kick to the redhead and a swift jab ended the son of Mercury, but a second slash at the redhead was parried before he retreated with the girl, who'd been stalking the opening to get at Annabeth.

"Percy?" Annabeth called, tugging on his arm, trying to snap him back to the present. "What are you thinking?"

Percy looked back at the blond beside him. "Why are their eyes glowing?"

Annabeth looked astounded when he asked the question. "You don't know?" She watched as the son of Poseidon shook his head no. She took a deep breath before explaining. "It's the bloodlust." Percy gave her a blank stare, as if to say _I have no clue what that is_. Annabeth face palmed. "Come on Seaweed Brain." When it was clear that Percy had zero idea of what she was talking about, she began again. "When half-bloods are forced to become mindless killers, it changes them. They start becoming violent, arrogant…and it gives them great power. Fortunately, it also takes away most sense. They become wild, which means if you're strong enough or fast enough, you can work around their power and get them before they get you. They get red eyes when it happens, and they want nothing more than to kill."

Percy glanced back towards the group huddled together. "Then why aren't they killing each other? At least all of the boys had the bloodlust."

Annabeth sighed sadly. "They haven't completely given over to the bloodlust. All of the power and the red eyes, but all the mental faculties you had before the bloodlust took hold. It makes you even more dangerous than people who give into it. They can think, they can plan, they can hold off on killing people that they don't want to…for now."

Percy stared into Annabeth's gray eyes. "For now?" he asked her.

She nodded, wincing from the pain in her leg. She grasped at her wound while she talked. "Everyone that the bloodlust touches always gives in. Now it's just a matter of time. We just have to not become mindless in our killing, or we'll end up-,"

"Like them," Percy finished, watching intently as the redhead boy began to walk menacingly towards them, the blond girl behind him, ready to fight.

* * *

><p>Lyca didn't feel safe in the grove she and Jason had been eating in; thinking that picking the apples may have brought the distorted centaurs out to have a little snack of their own. With a nod Jason agreed and began to pack the apples into the small bag that Lyca left on the ground. The stark white bag was now brown and dirty from the day of traveling and being trampled by the half-bloods and the centaurs during the fight. While Jason packed, Lyca scouted the immediate area, searching for any more surprises. Once she'd determined that there was nothing around that would randomly attack them, she headed back to Jason, who was waiting under the tree for the half-blood to return.<p>

"Anything out there?" Jason asked her when she got close enough to him.

Lyca reached out to the son of Jupiter for her bag. "Not a soul," she replied darkly. She shouldered the bag before looking around. "Think we should cross that stream over there; get some water while there's some nearby." Jason nodded to her before taking the lead, walking the way Lyca had gone to the stream.

Jason and Lyca both knelt by the side of the stream to fill the bottles with cool water. "So, who's your parent? Y'know, the immortal one?" she asked, trying to make a little side talk.

Jason scowled for a breath of a second, but when Lyca blinked, the scowl was gone and Jason's face was blank. The half-blood remained silent as he filled his water bottle, and Lyca threw her gloved hands up in defense. "Okay. Touchy subject, I see. You aren't the only one. The Hermes' cabin is always full with undetermined kids. How long had you been there waiting for someone to claim you?"

As Jason screwed the top onto his bottle and stood, he gave Lyca a strange look. "What are you talking about? I've hardly ever heard anyone refer to Mercury by his Greek form in a long time, except maybe in a history class. And what do you mean, 'Hermes has a cabin'? No god has a cabin. And the entire legion lives in barracks."

Now it was Lyca who gave Jason a strange look. "What do you mean? Every major god has a cabin, except Hades and Hestia. A god's children live in that god's cabin. The Hermes' cabin takes on any undetermined demigods until parentage is discovered. Maybe being locked up has made you forget about Camp Half-Blood."

"Half-Blood? I've never been to a 'Camp Half-Blood'. I come from Camp Jupiter."

"'Camp Jupiter'? What's up with the Latin name?" Lyca asked him as she crossed the stream, waiting for him to do the same.

"The gods are Roman, so we use Roman names," Jason said matter-of-factly. He splashed water on his face before crossing the stream. "How'd you even end up in here?" Jason asked Lyca.

"The same way everyone in the first wave got here," Lyca replied, tugging on her hunting knife to make sure it slid easily from its sheath. "I was part of the army that got captured defending Olympus."

At that Jason stopped. "Defending Olympus? The gods did that themselves. No mortals were there."

Lyca scoffed. "What are you talking about? Me and about seventy other demigods were all fighting Kronos' forces in Manhattan while Percy Jackson fought Kronos himself on Olympus. Weren't you there?"

Jason shook his head. "I was in San Francisco. I was facing off with the Titan Krios. I aimed to take out Kronos' throne."

"Alone? That's brave, if not quite brazen."

Jason smiled. "Who said I was alone? I led an entire army up Mount Othrys."

Lyca's face scrunched up as she thought. "This makes no sense," she muttered to herself. "None of our information is adding up…which means we didn't come from the same place." Her amber eyes focused on Jason. "Where are you from?" she asked him.

"Camp Jupiter, I told you," he said finally, still looking ahead into the clearing in front of them. They kept walking as Lyca was about to answer, when Jason's arm shot out, keeping her from stepping into the clearing and a finger over his lips. Lyca watched him intently as he motioned from them to get down.

"What are you doing?" she asked him archly.

Jason pointed over the bush that currently hid the two. "More demigods."

Lyca dared a second peek over the bush and saw the four demigods Jason had seen huddled together as if they were planning. "Great," she said, louder than she'd meant to. Jason tugged on her leg, pulling the half-blood down as a blond girl's head popped up, as if she'd heard something. There was more muttering amongst the group as the blond's eyes raked the forest. The last thing Lyca noticed was a dull red glow in the blond's eyes.

"Be quiet, or they'll hear us!" Jason scolded.

Lyca decided that she'd be angry about him scolding her later. "Bloodlust," she managed to get out. "They've all got the bloodlust."

Jason swore as his electric blue eyes flashed. He peeked under the bush at them, studying the group. "They don't seem to be completely taken by the bloodlust. They shouldn't be able to plan if they were." Lyca bent down to watch them from under the bush and managed to see a redhead boy and the blond girl she'd seen stalk off towards some trees.

Lyca drew her hunting knife. "Then they're more dangerous now than at any other point in their lives. We have an alliance with each other. The whole point of this game is to be the last one standing. Think we should eliminate some opposition?"

Jason stared at his own weapon hard. "Won't that turn us into them?" he asked.

"I don't think so," Lyca replied. "The bloodlust takes hold when you kill for the sake of nothing but killing. If we kill them, it'll be for survival."

Jason gripped his sword, silently unsheathing it. "For survival," he whispered.

Lyca put a finger to her parted lips and slinked from under the bush. Jason watched Lyca as she dropped low, stalking the two demigods left behind, sinking to her knees when the boy turned to talk to the other girl. "I'm gonna get a closer look. Keep watch. And keep working on that bow. It wouldn't be in here if it couldn't be strung and used."

"Okay," the girl sighed. "I just wish Jacob hadn't lost the other bow to those demigods in there. I hope we get it back. This thing is hard to work with." Lyca lay in wait until the black haired boy walked away to watch the other demigods going away from him. Lyca stalked the girl who had been left behind, keeping low and out of sight. Jason was impressed when Lyca leapt into action, grabbing the lone girl and clamping her gloved hand over the girl's mouth so her screams wouldn't be heard.

Lyca drew her hunting knife, pressing it between the sections of the girl's ribcage. "I'm going to make this as swift as possible," Lyca told her softly and sweet, even as the girl thrashed in desperation to be free. "I hate that we are forced to do this," her voice dropped to a whisper. "Take the freedom that the Titans have deprived you from." Lyca's words were followed by a sharp push of the knife, plunging it between the spaces of the ribcage to pierce the heart, and Lyca watched the girl become lifeless in her grasp. She sighed heavily, laying the girl gently to the ground and noticing the bow the girl had clutched in her hand. The half-blood closed the girl's eyes and removed the unstrung bow from her fingers. She'd hardly begun to look at the bow when Lyca heard a scream and a clash of metal and watched as she saw the other boy fighting with Jason.

_Great,_ Lyca intoned. _Just great._


	6. Lighting the Way

**A/N: Okay, okay, okay...I suck. Very badly. Yes I do. It's been more than a month since I've updated. But I got kind of stuck. See, I've been trying to write multiple parts all at the same time. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. This is a rare time where it did both. It didn't let me write this quickly or efficiently, but it helped me plan out other chapters. At any rate, I was almost done with this and, since the next book, The Mark of Athena is coming out in less than 4 hours now, I told myself to finish this chapter for the epic unveiling. Hopefully I can write more often. So for this chapter, the group in the Games finally gets together...**

* * *

><p>Jason hit the ground immediately, rolling to his left as he felt the heat of his enemy's blade crash down behind him. <em>Maybe I should've thought this thing through,<em> he thought to himself. When he had been watching the group with Lyca, he'd known that the guy was big, but he really hadn't expected him to be as big as he actually was. On top of that, the boy was fast, and with expert reflexes. As Jason parried another blow, he thought hard about how those reflexes very well saved the bloodlust's life.

Jason had had the drop on him, sneaking silently under the brush as Lyca had done. When he was close enough, he realized that it would've been harder to take the boy the way Lyca had taken care of her victim, and so he decided to go airborn. Happy he could summon at least a gust of wind to get himself into the air, he plummeted down, blade raised overhead to end him. What he hadn't expcted was for him to turn around, forearm raised to catch Jason, and then fling him aside like he was trash. He'd had the wind knocked out of him and was on the defensive since then.

At the moment, Jason was rolling under another heavy-handed strike, one that would have easily cleaved him in two. _What I wouldn't give to run a couple thousand volts through this guy, _Jason intoned bitterly, trying to get the upper hand on his gargantuan foe. Jason didn't know if it was because his father was defeated that his powers had diminished so much or some other reason, but at the moment, all he knew was he couldn't roast this guy and keep moving. In the back of his mind, he wondered what Lyca was doing and why she hadn't come and bail him out. He didn't think she'd be the type to break an alliance so easily, so he reasoned that something was keeping her. He wasn't exactly worried though; he'd been in much more difficult fights without a worry.

After parrying a particularly heavy strike and countering with his own, he caught sight of the other two demigods heading towards the tree line. He'd have to end this fight and soon if he was going to have an chance of survival. If the other two noticed him attacking their comrade and all three of them teamed up on him at the same time, he had a pretty good idea of how it would all end, and it wasn't exactly pretty.

Lost too far in his thoughts, Jason was jarred with an unexpected blow to his chin from the bloodlust's elbow. Jason hit the ground hard, his wind knocked from him again. He was lucky; Jason managed to hold on to his weapon, but was stuck on his back, trying to roll away from his attacker.

From behind him, Jason heard Lyca's voice call his name. "Close your eyes!" she yelled at him.

"Are you insane?" he shouted back as he rolled away from a nasty blow aimed at his sternum.

"Just trust me!" her voice called back, and Jason knew he had to trust Lyca.

No sooner than his eyes had shut was there a bright blast in front of his face. It seemed so bright that it almost illuminated everything, even from the inside of his own eyelids. He figured that brightness would have burned his sockets out, it was so powerful. _Almost like when the Olympians disappear,_ he thought from behind his eyelids. But Lyca wasn't a goddess. She was trapped here with him. He'd never seen anything like that before from any half-blood before...

When the intense brightness dimmed from behind his eyelids, he gingerly opened his eyes, noting that the bloodlust was no longer stalking him. As a matter of fact, he was face-up on the ground a foot away, blood coating his neck. Beside him was a little lump that slowly moved, as if it was heaving in deep breaths. Jason stalked it slowly, wary of what it could be when he noticed the brown hair of Lyca.

He knelt in front of Lyca as she began to tip over. "What happened?" Jason asked her. "What's wrong?"

Lyca leaned towards Jason as she spoke, her voice a little more than a whisper. "I'll be fine, just need rest. Go fight. The others noticed."

Electric blue eyes snapped up, scanning the direction that the other two demigods had wandered off to. He noticed that the boy was charging at them, about halfway between Jason and his partner, who was left behind him screaming at him. The boy either didn't know or didn't care that she was yelling and was focused on making Jason and Lyca roadkill. "I've got this," Jason told Lyca, who merely nodded and closed her eyes, trying to catch her breath.

Jason gripped his sword in hand and clenched his other fist, hoping that something would happen. After a moment, he could feel a small electric spark surge in his palm. _It's better than nothing,_ he thought to himself as he ran at the bloodlust who was clambering towards him. He focused on expanding the electric charge he felt and sending it through his weapon, which began to spark furiously.

_Only a few more feet, _Jason told himself. The son of Jupiter prepared himself and as soon as the bloodlust was about to permanently make him a part of the landscape, Jason leaped, floating over the boy's head. He landed softly, pivoting on one foot while he stabbed at the boy with a loud yell. Sparks flashed and popped as the bloodlust was electrocuted, his life quickly fleeing his falling body. Jason let out a large sigh before turning again, remembering that another bloodlust was still there. He was surprised when he saw, not an angry bloodlust, but a boy with dark hair sucking in deep breaths heavily, staring up the hill at him.

* * *

><p>Percy had absolutely no idea what was going on out there. The last thing he'd known was that the two bloodlust had been stalking him and Annabeth, while the other two had been hanging back, probably to take over if the red head and blonde couldn't get the job done. The two didn't seemed that worried about it, and seemed eager to watch as the other bloodlust stalked him and Annabeth. He glanced at her again, watched as her healthy skin began to turn pale. The daughter of Athena began to sweat, and Percy bit his lip to keep from letting any emotions show.<p>

Annabeth's eyes had been far away, as if she had been thinking about something, but she noticed Percy's stare. Weak as she was, she mustered together a powerful glare. "Seaweed Brain, don't worry about me. I won't make it out of here, but at the very least I can help you get out."

"Don't say that Annabeth," Percy told her strongly, more for himself than for her. His grimy hand cupped her sweaty cheek, brushing her face with his thumb lightly. "I'll find a way to get you out of here. Don't give up on me."

"I'm not giving up Percy. I just know my limitations," Annabeth said softly.

"Doesn't matter Wise Girl," Percy told her. "I'm not leaving here without you." Percy grabbed the canteen of water they had, ripping the stopper from the container. He held his hand over it and the water surrounded his hand again. Before Annabeth could protest, he pulled the ripped parts of her pants back and gently rubbed her wound. He watched as her face winced, then softened in relief.

"We'll get out of this Wise Girl. I promise you that," Percy told her, staring straight into her storm-gray eyes. The sincerity of his words stifled anything Annabeth had to say, and she merely nodded.

Percy sat back with a laugh, the first Annabeth had heard in a long time. "That's the first time I've ever shut you up," he said between chuckles.

Annabeth was going to be insulted, but was so happy to see just a glimpse of the Percy Jackson she'd known since he'd shown up at Camp Half-Blood that she let it go without another thought. Instead, she looked towards the opening of their makeshift tree fortress. "Percy, look!"

Percy turned to face the entrance and saw a flash of light coming from behind the bloodlust and tried to see the source of such energy. The light was bright, brighter than anything he'd actually looked at, but it reminded him of all the times that the Olympians had left his presence in a flash of light and divine power. He supposed that the Titans could do the same thing, but he didn't think that any of them would be in the Arena. "What is that?" he asked Annabeth.

She shrugged her shoulders, even though Percy wasn't looking at her. "I don't know! But don't worry about that! Look at them!"

Percy shifted his focus from the light to the bloodlust, who were disoriented, but not blinded by the powerful light. When the light dimmed and finally dissipated altogether, Percy heard the loud roar of the redhead bloodlust, who went charging back in the direction he came in. The blonde remained, screeching at her partner to come back. "What happened? It seems like they might be going to fight each other now."

Annabeth struggled to grasp the bow behind her. "It doesn't matter Percy. Now's your chance to get rid of the other one while he's distracted." She grabbed an arrow and heaved herself up, pulling her way to the entrance of the tree. She leaned her back against the nearest tree, nocking the arrow to her borrowed bow. "Get ready Percy," she managed to bite out. As Percy knelt by her busted knee, sword at the ready, Annabeth muttered under her breath, focusing on taking down her mark. She managed to suck in one deep breath and hold it for the second it took to center her target and let the arrow fly, slipping easily through the air. "Go Percy!" Annabeth told him, not even waiting to see if her arrow hit her mark. "Go now!"

Percy didn't waste a second, sprinting off after the arrow. The son of Poseidon heard instead of saw the girl cry out in pain as the arrow sank deep into her thigh. Percy focused on the arrow and the leg that it pierced, trying to make it the focus of his onslaught. He took a quick leap into the air, swinging his foot towards the bloodlust's thigh, but she had caught on to his plans. She pivoted away from his foot and ducked under Percy's first strike, aimed high for her head. Percy heard a snap and a groan and knew that the girl had broken the arrow shaft to keep it from hindering her as much as possible. On instinct, Percy dropped his head and felt heat flow over him before he back-stepped, turning his blade behind him and jabbed strongly, stabbing her in the sternum. Slowly, the son of Poseidon turned, watching the bloodlust slowly fall to his feet. As soon as he knew for a fact that she was dead, he let out a breath he hadn't even known he'd been holding. His body sagged, worn out from being on alert for hours on end, worried about himself but also about Annabeth, who was a girl with a strong will, but with a body that was continually weakening. Percy lifted his head up, no longer hearing the sounds of battle and tensing, remembering that there was at least one more fight waiting for him at the top of the hill. He tightened his grip on the sword in his hands so tight he felt that he might crack the hilt in two, waiting for someone to come down towards him. After waiting for a minute, he noticed a boy with blond hair that was neither of his former assailants staring down at him, his weapon dangling from his hand. Percy's gaze tightened on the boy when he saw brief flickers of light flash along the boy's body. The boy turned away from him and he muttered loud enough for Annabeth to hear him. "Wise Girl, did you see that?"

Annabeth groaned slightly from where she leaned on the tree. "I saw it Percy. But don't go up there. Don't attack him; he hasn't come down here to challenge us, so don't exert yourself." As she spoke, she watched the familiar body of Percy tensing up as if ready to charge the hill and ignore the daughter of Athena. She grit her teeth against the pain as she tried again. "Please Percy! Don't go!" she called after him as she watched as the son of the seas ran headfirst at the hill.

* * *

><p>Jason stared down the hill at the boy with the dark, unruly hair, as the boy looked back up at him. The boy looked tense, but from the way he looked, Jason assumed that he had been one of the unlucky prisoners of the Games, being attacked far more than once. Jason turned to the side, looking for any sign of Lyca. He noticed her walking slowly towards him, clutching an unstrung bow, breathing heavily. He drew his eyebrow up in concern. "Are you okay, Lyca?"<p>

In the midst of her gasping, Lyca leveled her amber eyes at Jason, but she nodded an answer. "Just gonna need a little more rest." She sighed, brushing her hair away from her face. "What I wouldn't give for a square of ambrosia." She allowed herself to slowly, rather clumsily, collapse to her knees near her ally, drawing her tapered fingers over the bow, tracing the intricate designs carved into it. Lyca glanced up at Jason, noticing blue sparks flickering shortly around him. "What's up with you?"

Jason looked down at his body. "Oh. I finally got my powers to work. Or, at least some of them. I can't call down lightning or fly or anything."

"Lightning? Fly? What are you talking about? How can you do that stuff?" Lyca asked incredulously. "Who is your godly parent?"

Jason sighed, almost wearily. "My father...my father is Jupiter, lord of the sky and god of the thunderbolt."

"The Roman god of the skies right?"

"Yes, but why do you insist on using Greek names? He's Roman now."

Lyca looked at Jason, prepared to respond, when movement down below them grabbed her attention. "Jason, what's he doing?" she asked, pointing at the dark-haired boy charging at them. Jason didn't answer, merely gripped his blade and began to rush down the hill at their assailant. "Wait, Jason! Stop I know him! Jason!"

* * *

><p>Annabeth watched Percy charge up the hill, picking up speed as he ran. She cried out again, hoping to dissuade the half-blood from going through with his current mindset. "Percy!" she called to know avail. She watched, helpless from the grove as the other boy began to charge down the hill at Percy. She gripped the bow in her hand tightly; if she couldn't stop Percy, she had to help him. Annabeth bit down on the inside of her cheek as she stooped to grab another arrow, relying on the tree to keep her upright. Fighting through the pain, she nocked her arrow and took aim at the sparking attacker. She was just about to let the arrow fly when she noticed a girl standing atop the hill, screaming for the two of them to stop. fighting. Annabeth held off firing for just a moment, and in that moment the daughter of Athena saw Percy and his opponent slam into what she thought was each other, then ricochet off each other, bouncing into the dirt around them. The force of the collision was so powerful, Annabeth was forced to her knees, and she watched the girl on the hill collapse, rolling to a stop down the at the foot of the hill.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>AN Pt 2: I don't usually do two Author Notes, but I figured, why not? So the next chapter is the big unveiling of Lyca's father and the big reveal of the differences between the two types of demigods. A new perspective might be in the works for the new chapter, but there will definitely be some more Reyna and Nico in it as well as the Games. Hope you guys enjoy it. **


	7. Who's Your Daddy?

Percy didn't know what had hit him. He couldn't even begin to describe what had happened to him, much less what was going on in his life at that moment. He'd messed up; that much was certain. It was his fault that the world was so screwed up, and nobody could take that blame but him. He couldn't defeat Kronos, and in his failure to do that, he single-handedly set up the entirety of Camp Half-Blood and the mortal world as he knew it for utter annihilation. He deserved to be locked in an arena packed with half-bloods: every last one of them had the right to tear a piece of his hide out. But the worst...the worst by far was Annabeth. In everything, he'd hoped that at least Annabeth had gotten away, that maybe she could make a life for herself hidden from the eyes of Kronos. To stare across the field and see Annabeth in the pale shirt and black pants of the arena captives meant that he'd ultimately failed, and Annabeth had to suffer for what he did. He had made it his goal that he'd fight once again, that he would fight to save Annabeth and make sure that she got free of the Titans.

In order to do that, first he had to get up. Percy's limbs felt like rubber, they were so heavy. The last thing he knew, he had been charging at some guy who'd been staring down at him, seemingly watching as Percy took on the bloodlust alone. Percy had just barely managed to hold onto the celestial bronze sword he'd taken up fighting with in place of Riptide. Even now, the sword was too heavy for him, and it kept him unbalanced when he fought, even moreso now that he had very little strength to do anything but moan in pain. He willed his fingers to loose the deathgrip they held on that weapon and he managed to bounce the hilt of the blade out of his hand. He began to roll onto his side, trying to press himself into a sitting position when he heard Annabeth call his name.

"Percy! Percy what happened?!" Annabeth hobbled as best she could towards Percy and fell to her knees in front of him, partially in relief that he was alive, partially due to the pain slowly devouring her thigh.

Percy began to suck in deep, cool breaths in order to try and soothe his burning lungs. "I-I don't know," he replied shakily. "I feel like I ran into a brick wall. It sucked all the energy I had left from me." He looked towards where he bounced off the magic wall and saw a line burned into the ground where he and the other boy had been ready to clash. Beyond the line he could see the other boy just rolling over before bracing himself on his hands and knees.

"Hey!" Percy called out to him, trying to get his attention. "Hey, who are you?"

The boy said nothing, just began to crawl before, with a loud groan, standing to both feet and walking towards a lump at the foot of the hill. "Lyca!" he called out to the lump which, on closer inspection, was a girl curled up at the bottom of the hill. "Lyca are you okay? What's wrong?"

Percy forced himself to his feet, grabbing the hilt of his sword and staggering to the boy, the tip of the blade carving haphazard designs in the ground as Percy dragged it behind him. Percy couldn't get enough breath to walk and call out to the blond-haired demigod, so he staggered his way to the boy and the girl he rushed to. "Who are you?" Percy forced out once he stopped at the line freshly dug by the barrier.

The blond boy finally seemed to hear Percy because he turned to look at him, trying to position himself over the fallen girl's body. "Get back or I swear I'll kill you!" the boy snarled at him.

Percy managed to pick his blade up and place it in between him and the snarling demigod in front of him. "Hey cool down! I wasn't going to do anything," Percy shot back.

"Whatever," the blond snorted. "You were going to skewer me!"

"Well you didn't look all peaceful standing at the top of the hill brandishing that gold sword!" Percy glared hard at the half-blood in front of him, shifting his way in between Annabeth and the crazed demigod to try and protect her if the demigod went nuts. He was about to speak when he heard his name being called. He chanced a glance back at Annabeth, who was on her knees wincing in pain. "Did you call me?" he asked her. The daughter of Athena shook her head no, and with a wide look of surprise etched on her face, she pointed behind him.

Percy turned again, expecting to find the half-blood poised to strike, but instead saw the brown-haired girl that had fallen down the hill, standing upright, looking past her companion and straight at him. "Percy Jackson," she spoke calmly in a voice that sounded both familiar and strange all at the same time, as if he were listening to it in a dream.

Percy pointed his blade at the girl instead of the blond half-blood. "How do you know me?" he asked warily.

The girl opened her eyes, showing perfect pupiless orbs that bored straight into Percy's sea-green eyes. "I kept you when were lost. I saved you when you were at the gates of death. I stayed behind and watched you leave so that you could save the world."

Percy's jaw dropped immediately. He couldn't believe he'd ever forget that voice. The one he thought of only once every so often. In the eye's mind he recrafted the image he'd never forgotten, caramel hair braided over her right shoulder, almond shaped eyes set in a heart-shaped face. A smile that brought him utter peace. It couldn't make him forget about Annabeth though, not even for a second, even as she stumbled to her feet beside him.

"Percy," Annabeth started shakily. "Who is this?"

Percy gulped before answering the question. "It's the goddess stranded on Ogygia. She's a daughter of Atlas. It's the Titaness, Calypso."

"Percy, how do you know Calypso?" Annabeth asked him, a look of bewilderment on his face.

"Now is not the time for questions daughter of wisdom," Calypso said kindly. "Now is the time for direction. You believe that hope is lost, young demigods. But hope has not been set free from Pandora's pithos. You have hope. You can free yourselves from this place. It is your destiny if you hope to right every wrong and dethrone Kronos, but you have to do it together." She gestured at all of the half-bloods present, from Percy to Annabeth and the blond boy and finally to herself. "This girl will also be vital in helping you. You must work soon. In one day a force will come to strike against this place, and you must be ready for it."

"How do you know all this?" Annabeth asked her.

"And how do we know we can trust you?" the blond boy added. "You're a Titaness after all."

The goddess shook her head slowly. "I cannot explain, for I have no time left. The Titans watch and I am not as powerful as my father's brothers. I cannot hide our conversation much longer." She slowly closed her eyes, as if preparing to spirit herself away. "But know this Percy Jackson. Do not despair. All is not lost, and you are not to blame." The Titaness blinked once, blinked twice, and the third blink showed Percy amber eyes instead of blank ones and the girl collapsed, no longer possessed by Calypso.

* * *

><p>"Keep the cohorts running drills while I am gone, got that?" Reyna spoke without looking back at the two centurion following behind her. She roughly pulled at her dark, bare travel clothing. She was used to wearing her own comfortable clothes, the pruple robes of praetor. But that wouldn't help her now, not where she was going. "Keep Apollo's kids drilling on their shots, and make sure that Vulcan's children take whatever scraps of Imperial Gold we have left, and melt it down and remold it into something useful. We don't have much to use. Let the first two cohorts spar in small groups and then drill the others on marches or something..."<p>

"Praetor," the centurion on the right called to her. She spun on her heel mid-step and stared at him. He blinked his uneven eyes at her and licked his blood red lips. "We've got this," he said as calmly as possible. "We know what to do. Just go and find Jason. Make sure he's alive and bring him back."

Reyna's expression softened slightly. She placed her bandaged-wrapped hands on both centurions' shoulders and gripped them lightly. "I know Dakota. I trust you and Gwendolyn to do what needs to be done for the Twelfth Legion to regain its glory."

"Be safe, Reyna," Gwendolyn said softly. She glared behind the praetor of Rome at a pale boy kneeling beside a chariot. "We don't trust that son of Hades with you," she admitted with a sneer. "Are you sure that you'll be fine alone?"

"Of course I'll be fine. But I need you to try and stay away from the Greeks as much as possible. The last thing we need is a big fight on our hands when we return." _Or worse,_ she thought to herself, _before we come back._ With that disturbing thought and not another word, she shook their shoulders lightly but firmly, striding past them towards Nico, who was harnessing the chariot that would take them to break Jason out of the Arena. She pulled at her clothing some more, feeling just a little too exposed when she stood next to the chariot, looking over the ride the son of Hades decided that they would use The chariot was large to say the least; it didn't seem built for a human, much less a child like him. Then she blanched; there really weren't children like him, from what she'd known. He seemed so glum all of the time, so down-to-earth and grown, despite knowing that she was several years older than him. She'd never known Pluto to frequent among the living, preferring his realm of precious stone to the land of the living. But then again, as Nico never stopped reminding her, his father wasn't exactly Pluto, but the Greek god Hades, Lord of the Underworld and all that resided within.

Reyna shook herself, running her hand along the chariot, noting that it felt like it had been carved completely from black stone. She'd seen many a chariot, and yet never one that had been built completely from stone. Her fingers played from black to shiny gold, realizing that the jewel was as much a singular part of the stone as her own hair was to her body. "It's obsidian and gold," Nico said suddenly, to Reyna's surprise.

When she looked at him, her dark eyes searching his pale face, she noticed that he had never turned from his work. "It's elegantly done," she replied softly. "How was this possible?" she asked him.

Nico almost visibly flinched under her gaze and the question she posed him; but in a second he was back to normal, completely focused on the preparations. "It's my father's chariot," he replied after a moment. She merely watched him in silence as he finished up on the chariot. When she decided that it was too awkward to keep watching the boy in front of her, she looked for the horses that would be carting the two of them off to Jason.

"Why can't I just ride Scipio?" she asked Nico.

Nico sighed, as if he was tired of answering the same question from a little girl. "Scipio is only going to be able to carry you and another person. We're breaking at least two people out, maybe more depending on if either Jason or Percy found allies in the Arena. Then, Scipio won't be fast enough. We're going to use shadow-travel to get there and back. It shouldn't take us too long and I should be able to travel us there and back safely. Then, Thalia is coming along with us on the return trip. She Iris-Messaged me and said that she'd meet us there and she wouldn't miss this for the world." Nico gave a faint smile at the thought before it faded off his pale face. He rose off his haunches, dusting his black pants off and tying his dark sword to his side. He picked up two long cloaks and handed one to Reyna before draping the other around his lanky form.

"Ladies first," he told Reyna, gesturing to the chariot. She glared at him, not entirely trusting of him, but still knowing that, one way or another, this boy was going to lead her to Jason. She placed a hand on the edge of the chariot and began to step in when she heard a voice behind her.

"Wait, Nico!" She spun around to see who was talking to the Greek when she realized that she was looking through a girl that looked about his age dressed in the garments of the Hunters that came through every so often to make council with Nico. Her hair fell long and straight down her head and when the ghost turned to face Reyna, she noticed that her hair framed her young pale face. She had a silver bow on her back and a knife strapped to her thigh, but seemed resigned against using them at all if she could.

"Bianca," Nico spoke, snapping the ghost's attention back to him. Reyna stood silently, still not quite used to ghosts appearing out of nowhere to talk to Nico. Well, there were Lares at Camp Jupiter, but they were just there and they rarely set out to find legionnaires. And to be honest, she trusted the Lares, for they were Roman in life. She didn't know how Greeks ghosts would react to her, or if they even cared. Reyna managed to shake herself out of her reviere to watch the conversation between the two.

"Bianca, I thought we discussed this," Nico was telling her. "I will be gone for a couple of days. I need you to take control of the Underworld while I'm gone."

Bianca's image shimmered briefly as she folded her arms, as if irritated. "Nico, I'm telling you, Dad's been gone too long for me to keep control like that, especially for long periods of time. Cerberus left the gates unguarded and you've been the only one able to send them back and keep them back. If you're gone for even a second, things will get out of control."

Nico placed his hand on his sister's shoulder, firmly but lovingly. To Reyna's surprise, Nico's hand didn't pass through her body as the praetor knew her hand would if she tried to touch the ghosts of the Underworld. "Bianca, normally I'd agree with you. But I have to go. Rachel's prophecy told the son of Hades to go. We are his last children, and I am the last one alive. Sister, you are a Hunter of Artemis. You died to save the boy I'm going to set free. You saw what we all see: there is no way that things can get better until Percy Jackson fights for Olympus again. Besides, you're the queen of the ghosts, second only to the king of the ghosts. You have to believe in your abilities." Nico's expression cracked; his hold on her shoulder tightened and he pulled her into him for a hug. Her image shimmered again before she wrapped her arms around him, stroking his hair gently.

"You're so grown up, Nico. So strong. So brave. So different from the little boy I grew up with." She pressed her lips to her brother's forehead gently and lovingly. "Dad would be proud of you now, if he could see you." She stepped back from her brother's embrace.

"There's just one more thing I have to ask," she spoke softly, staring at her brother.

Nico checked his sword before sheathing it and getting into the chariot, avoiding her eyes. "What is it Bianca?"

"What about the camp? They need a leader. You're their leader."

"No, I'm not," he said with finality."I'm not their leader."

Bianca glared at him,though be never looked back at her. "What are you talking about? A leader at Camp Half-Blood is a cabin leader or a child of the Big Three..."

"But that's just it! I'm the son of Hades, Lord of the Dead! I can't be a cabin leader because we don't get a cabin! The Lord of the Dead isn't welcome among the living," he bit out angrily. "That's why I have to find Percy. He's the only son of the Big Three left besides me. Well...almost," Nico admitted, cutting his eyes sideways towards Reyna. "Please Bianca," the son of Hades pleaded to his sister. "I need to do this. Percy is like a brother to me. I couldn't save you. And I refuse to let the only living family I have join my domain. I need you to not worry about the camp, and guard the Underworld until I come back. I won't be long."

Bianca eyes softened, though she stared at the back of his black, shaggy hair. "Very well, Nico," she said finally. "I respect the wishes of the ghost-king." She made a bow that her brother couldn't see, but Reyna watched the interaction, feeling as if she shouldn't have been there for this intimate conversation. Bianca made her way to the front of the chariot to look up at Nico, who had just picked up the reins for horses that weren't there.

Nico seemed deep in thought before opening his mouth. "If it makes you feel better, take Mrs. O'Leary. She should be able to help you keep the dead in line until I get back."

Bianca smiled softly. "Thank you little brother," she whispered. Her image began to shimmer a little bit more, as if her connection was being interrupted with static. "Be careful with father's horses. They're one-of-a-kind." The spirit of Bianca shifted and crackled before it faded completely, and Reyna let loose a breath she hadn't realized that she was holding.

"Sorry you had to see that," Nico said, with a hint of ice at the back of his words, chilling Reyna.

"No matter," she said indifferently, covering all her thoughts she'd had since his sister showed up. "I have an older sister of my own. They insist on making sure we're doing the best we can and the best for ourselves. She's only worried about you." She made to touch Nico's shoulder in comfort, but the son of the dead flinched before she could even touch him. She pulled her hand back, as if she placed it too close to a blazing fire. "So, where are the horses?" she asked him, trying to take both of their minds off of what had just happened.

Nico looked up, facing towards the open road in front of the chariot. "I got this," Nico said, leaping out of the chariot and drawing his black sword in one fluid motion. He stood in front of Hades' chariot, sword held to the sky. "I call upon the black steeds of death, the stallions of hell! Come at the bidding of the son of Hades, the King of Ghosts! Fall under my command, serve me well!" he yelled to the sky, plunging his blade deep into the dirt ground in front of him.

Immediately Reyna could hear the sounds of wild horses, rearing and screaming as if their voices were a thousand rushing winds all converging on her at once. She closed her eyes and covered her ears at the sound, but as soon as it had started up, the noise ceased. When she opened her eyes, she saw two large, powerfully built pitch black stallions on either side of Nico. On closer look, she noted that they almost seemed to be shadows of horses, not completely solid. Nico patted the flowing mane of one while the other nuzzled in his palm, as if he was wondering if the master's son had something to feed him. Nico snapped his fingers and the horses turned, placing themselves in position to be secured to the chariot. The son of Hades made quick work doing that while Reyna watched at the horses of the dead.

All too soon, Nico climbed into the chariot, closing the back and securing it. He gave Reyna a glance and a smile played at his features. "What?" Reyna asked him, wondering what he was thinking.

Nico shook his head to make his hair resettle around his face. "You're gonna want to tie yourself down or hold on to something," he told her as he gripped the reins in hand. Instinctively, her hand clamped onto the side of the chariot, feeling the stony build resist her death-grip.

Without checking to see if she was ready, Nico snapped the reins twice and the horses from hell broke fast into a sprint, charging ahead without abandon. Nico's face began to twist into a sick form of maniacal glee, which worried Reyna all the more. She could barely stand upright in the chariot and look around due to the winds buffeting her whenever she tried. She didn't even know how Nico could see where he was going. She managed to open her eyes a little when she covered her face with the cloak, which began to billow wildly around her, and she saw the chariot's course coincide with a large, heavy slab of rock that was part of rubble in the downtown area.

"Umm, Nico..." Reyna shouted over the wind. "I don't know if you can see this, but we're heading straight for a big, huge rock!"

"That's the point!" Nico called back, madly grinning. The stallions seemed to feed off of Nico's energy, because they charged even faster towards the rock. "It's the only way to shadow-travel!"

Reyna covered her eyes, wondering how badly the Romans would decimate their Greek allies when they found her body splattered against the ruins of downtown Detroit.

* * *

><p>The first thing that let Lyca know without a shadow of a doubt that she was alive was the pain. She hadn't been to the Underworld, but she knew that if she was, she'd be looing at a bunch of other souls wandering around. She'd look up and see nothing but the shell of the world she used to live in encasing her in her new abode. As it was, when Lyca opened her eyes, she saw stars. Twinkling stars shimmering all along the sky. She stretched her fingers and then all the way down her arms, making sure she could move them. <em>Okay. My arms work. I'm not dead. So far this has been the best day in a long time in my book,<em> she thought drily. She reached up to touch her head and only found a small lump over her left eye, but concluded that she hadn't received a concussion. The rest of her face felt fine, as did her neck. As she moved her hands lower, she felt a blanket covering her. She realized that's why she felt so warm. She slowly, reluctantly removed the blanket, intent on finishing her autopsy of her own body. She ran hands down her slender curves, lightly tapping each rib and finding that they were intact and hardly even bruised. Lyca touched her hip and found that a sharp pain fluttered through her, and she quickly took note of that. Her knees were slightly scraped, but overall she was just fine. Now that she knew for a fact that she was okay, the next important things were to make sure she had weapons to defend herself and find Jason if he was still alive. Luckily for her, she didn't have to look far: her belt was within arm's reach and when she looked up again, Jason was kneeling over her.

"You alright?" Jason asked her, offering her his hand to help her up. He shifted his body so that his knee could help her stay upright while she familiarized herself with her surroundings. "You've been out most of the day. Do you remember anything?"

Lyca held her head in one gloved hand. "I remember killing this girl. She was a bloodlust. I remember saving your behind. I remember you charging down the hill at..." Lyca's eyes got wide and she turned on Jason. "What happened to him? Where is he?"

Jason chuckled softly. "Hey, someone was looking out for him. Calypso possessed you to stop me and him from fighting. She told us what we need to do. We're gonna get out of here, Lyca. We're busting out."

Lyca's eyes got even wider, her amber eyes boring into Jason. "How is that even possible?"

Jason merely shrugged. "She just told us that it'll take all of us to do it. When she left you, you were still unconscious, so we brought you to where the guy was hiding with his girlfriend or something. It's pretty defensible, so we should be fine. He went out on patrol to find some food, and she's asleep right now, so you won't see them till he gets back."

Lyca nodded at him slowly. She clenched and opened her hand a couple of times before remembering. "Where was the bow I had with me?"

"Oh that," Jason said, remembering. "Annabeth tried to fix it, but something's wrong. The only thing wrong with it is that the bow needs to be restrung. We even have the string. But for some reason, we can't even bend the bow low enough to tie it off. When Annabeth couldn't do it, we assumed it was because she was weak. She's been injured for a couple days now, so we thought she was just not 100%. But I couldn't even string it. I left it by the entrance, but it's useless."

Lyca shook her head. "Bring it here. I want to try."

"No offense Lyca, but if we couldn't string it, why do you think you can?"

Lyca glowered at him for a moment. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say that. I just think I might be able to figure it out."

"Whatever floats your boat," Jason sighed, moving to get the bow. As he left, Annabeth began to stir.

Her gray eyes immediately searched everywhere, noticing that only Lyca was there and the two boys were gone. "Where's-,"

"Jason went outside to go get me the bow. And the other guy went to find food I think."

Annabeth nodded evenly. Lyca watched her slowly before speaking. "Annabeth? Annabeth Chase?"

Annabeth gave Lyca her attention again. "How do you know me?"

"Well, Jason said your name before he left. But before that, we were at Camp Half-Blood together. You're the counselor for Athena's cabin. You might not know me. My father has plenty of children and it's sort of easy to get lost in the crowd." Lyca tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

Before Annabeth could respond, a rustle at the entrance alerted the girls to Jason's return, along with another boy behind him. "Percy!" Annabeth called out, her expression brightening instantaneously.

Percy Jackson sat down next to her, putting his arm around her and taking a bag off of his shoulder. "Hey Wise Girl. How are you feeling?"

Annabeth sighed, lightly grazing her fingers over a gap in her pants. "It's still kinda bad. If we don't get out of here by the time Calypso told us to, things could get worse."

"What's wrong?" Lyca asked.

Percy looked at her before responding. "Annabeth got hurt. We can't heal her. I thought I could, because when I use water I can usually heal people. But for some reason my powers don't work as well as they used to."

Lyca nodded as Jason handed her the unstrung bow. "Well, I don't know if anything of mine has been tampered with," she said as she gripped the bow between her legs, "But I may be able to help you." With a grunt, she pulled down on the bow, bending it enough for her to hold down long enough for her to wrap the string around the end and tie it tight enough for it to be effective. She grabbed the bow with her hand and gently plucked the string to hear a low, sweet twanging sound from the bow. "What was so hard about doing that?"

The three demigods looked at her with surprise. "What do you mean, what was so hard?" Percy asked her. "It was impossible to bend the bow, much less tie it off."

Annabeth stared at the bow for a moment. "Can I see that?" Lyca said nothing, jus turned the bow over to the daughter of Athena. Annabeth studied it in the firelight, searching for symbols or marks in the bow.

While Annabeth was scouring the bow for any sign of identity, Lyca turned her attention to Jason. She watched him almost irritatingly brush his unkempt hair out of his eyes and stare at the golden sword at his feet. He seemed deeply engrossed with his own thoughts but Lyca had some questions of her own to ask him. "So Jason," she said loud enough to grab his attention. When he looked up, she gave me a quick smile. "What were you saying about the Roman gods before we got sidetracked?"

Jason shifted his position to look directly at her. "Oh, that. While you were unconscious, me and Annabeth talked about it and I realized why we didn't understand each other."

"Okay," Lyca said, completely interested. "So, what's up?"

"The short story? I'm a Roman demigod. Jason Grace, son of Jupiter Maximus, god of the skies and lord of Olympus and the praetor of the 12th Legion Fulminata, at your service."

Lyca stared at him, confused about everything. "Roman demigod? How is that possible? The gods are Greek. Mr. D is Greek. Or at least he definitely isn't Roman. He's far too moody and not warlike at all."

"Let me try to explain," Annabeth spoke up, grabbing the attention of everyone around the fire. Without taking her eyes off of the bow in her hands she began to explain. "For you, me and Percy, the gods are Greek. Take me, for example. My mom's Athena, goddess of wisdom and righteous warfare. She also takes care of talents like weaving and certain arts, but when we see her, she is very powerful, commanding even. She took the head of Medusa and had it forged into Zeus's shield, making it even more powerful. She's a virgin goddess, so she doesn't have kids in the normal, physical fashion. We're what you call 'brain-children,' born completely from an intelligent molding of a talented genius mind and Athena."

She took a slow breath before pointing at Jason. "His version of Athena, Minerva, is completely different. The Romans didn't view women as powerful forces and certainly not as warriors. That was the job of men, and Mars's ultimate pleasure as Defender of Rome. Minerva was diminished to her womanly traits of weaving and womanswork, replaced as Jupiter's favorite by Mars. And above all else, the Roman form Athena took her vows of virginity even more seriously. No children at all. Not even brain-children."

Lyca nodded slowly. "Is that the only difference between our groups of demigods?" she asked Jason.

"That's only the beginning," Jason replied. "We get these tattoos when we are inducted into the Legion our first year." He held his arm to the firelight, proudly displaying this own tattoo with the bald eagle, the letters SPQR and twelve little tick marks under it. "We aren't separated by our parentage as you guys are. Only Apollo's children are allowed to utilize bows and arrows in warfare. There's more to that, but for the sake of time we can discuss the other stuff later."

Lyca nodded and smiled at him. "Thanks for the explanation. Sounds a little confusing, but I'll sort through it."

"Yup," Percy said, nodding his head towards Lyca. "It confuses me too. I'll figure it out eventually." Then the son of Poseidon turned his gaze to her. "Now what about you? What's your story?"

"My story?" Lyca asked him.

"Yup," Jason replied. "We all know each other's story. I'm Jupiter's son, Athena's brain-child. The son of Neptune-"

"Poseidon," Percy corrected with an honest smile. Jason nodded, gesturing to Percy.

"Wait!" Annabeth said. "I figured out who this bow belonged to." She held it up to the firelight, pointing to a symbol etched on the inside of the gold, along with an inscription: for the Crafty Odysseus.

Percy looked at the bow, then at his friend around the fire. "Who's Odysseus?" he asked, scratching his head.

All at once, Annabeth, Lyca and Jason palmed their foreheads. "How could you not know who Odysseus is Percy?" Annabeth asked him. "He designed the Trojan Horse, tricked Achilles into fighting for the Greeks, tried to sail home against all odds. He was Athena's favorite."

"I thought that was Orpheus," Percy asked them.

"Not at all," Lyca told him. "Orpheus was a son of one of the Muses, a famous singer. He sailed with Jason and his Argonauts and tried to get his wife out of the Underworld with just his song."

Percy looked even more confused. "I thought that was Oedipus."

Jason burst out laughing while Annabeth sighed. "Why do I even bother?" she muttered. "Oedipus was a king in Thebes who killed his father and married his mother."

"I'm sure that was Odysseus," Percy said with finality.

"Never mind," Annabeth said with resignation, while Lyca and Jason began rolling over, holding their sides and bursting with laughter. "Lyca, it's your turn."

Lyca took a deep breath in order to sort her thoughts out. "Okay. Well, my grandfather was a Caucasian mediator between the Native American people in various area and the government to try and do what he could to keep the government from taking so much land from them. When he realized that the government was just going to take land no matter what, he left them for one of the tribes and lived among the people. That's when he met my grandmother. Because he was an outsider, he had to prove himself moreso than the other men his age to marry her, but he pulled through and they had my mother.

She was special, touched by the spirits, the chieftain told my grandparents. She could see things that most of the tribal people couldn't see, even the medicine people. When she grew older, she could listen to people talk and determine whether or not people were telling the truth just by looking at them or listening to them. She was beautiful, but it was her gift that caught my father's attention most of all. He told her that it was because she was so truthful and could see beyond what was really there thathe even decided to appear to her. He knew that if he told her who he was, she would believe him without even having to prove it to her. He said it embodied everything he held dear. He couldn't always stay around, but it didn't matter as much because she knew he was a god, but she didn't tell anybody. He promised her that something special would be there to watch out for her whenever he wasn't there. And every night, there was a brown wolf that slept on her steps, even after I was born. She named me Lyca because in Greek 'lykos' means 'wolf.'"

Jason and Percy were staring, hooked on her story. When they realized she'd stopped, Percy spoke up. "So? Who's the father? Is is Hermes?"

"No, no," Jason spoke up. "It's a minor god isn't it?"

Lyca grinned a slightly wolfish grin. "Nope. My father's the god of light, poetry, music, medicine and above all archery. He's Apollo."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This one came out sooner than I expected and I think I write double what a standard chapter was. Well, the suspense is over. I wonder how many of you actually knew her father was Apollo. Go back and see if you can catch all of the hints. I didn't end up adding the extra perspective I referred to, but that should be forthcoming. Still psyched over Mark of Athena and just spent the week delusional with a high fever and a cold. But some of that wrote this chapter...at any rate, I hope you like it. Within a couple chapters we should see some busting out. Later guys, hope you like it. **


	8. Midnight

Percy, Jason and Annabeth all looked at Lyca. "Apollo?" Percy asked her.

Lyca combed her brown hair back with her fingers. "Yup. God of light, archery and healing."

Jason stared at her. "But wait. You did something on the hill when we were fighting those bloodlust. You blinded the guy...somehow...you knew it was going to happen. How did you do it? I don't know anybody who can do that, not even children of Apollo. The only thing that I know that makes such a bright light is..." Jason trailed off, as if he was remembering something unsavory.

"What?" Lyca asked him.

"A god," Annabeth finished for the son of Jupiter. "Only gods have been known to be able to create such massive amounts of light."

"Exactly," Jason continued, picking at the dirt under his feet. "So how can you do it?"

Lyca shrugged her slender shoulders. "I have no idea. I remembered my childhood, and how every once in a rare while my mother would send me to my room for a couple of minutes. She always said that I was a little too radiant, and the other kids would be jealous if they ever knew. It was our little secret and when I would come out, she would give me something sweet or a toy and I'd think nothing of it. I had never done it consciously before, but I knew how I felt when I was being radiant. Something in the back of my mind was telling me that it would save me when I could harness it. I still haven't figured out why I could do it and why I stopped doing it when I got older."

"Wait," Annabeth interjected. Despite the pain she was in, the demigods could see the gears working double-time in her head. "At any point did you move to a cloudy area when you got a little older?"

Lyca nodded in surprise. "Me and my mom moved to Seattle after when I was seven. We used to live further south, where it was warm and sunny a lot. How did you know that I moved like that?"

"Just as I thought," Annabeth explained. "Your ability is extremely rare, even rarer than any child of Hephaestus gaining fire powers. You seem to be able to absorb the energy of the sun, your father's energy-and radiate it. When your mom called you radiant, she meant it, literally. You were glowing. She probably was letting you burn off the extra energy when you were in your room. When you moved to Seattle, you couldn't absorb as much energy as normal because of the decreased amount of sunlight, so you didn't need to dissipate the energy like that."

"Great," Lyca intoned. "Now I'm a human light bulb. Anything else I can do with this energy?" Annabeth shrugged. "I've never heard of anything like this before. Everything I just said is all conjecture based off what you just told me. If we can get out of this hellhole and find Chiron, maybe he can tell you exactly what you can do." Annabeth shifted and winced, grabbing at her thigh.

"What's wrong?" Lyca asked her.

Percy spoke up before Annabeth could talk. "She got caught by a throwing knife when we were trying to escape from the fighting. I tried to heal her with water from the river, but I think being in the Arena saps some of our abilities."

Jason nodded in agreement. "I think he's right. I can't do a lot of the stuff I normally could. I mean, I can't even fly."

Lyca stared at Jason. "You can fly?!"

"I could," he replied. "If Percy is right, then that's the reason I can't do that stuff right now. I'm limited to generating electricity within myself and I can use the wind to power my jumps a little higher or farther, but no flight. No full on 'Son-of-Jupiter-lightning-blasts' either."

Lyca stared at Annabeth's leg wound for a moment. "Well, I don't know what the Titans took from me being in the Arena. I mean, I never tried any healing in here, and I clearly don't know the limits to my own power, but I can try to help you." Annabeth silently tore the leg of her sweatpants, exposing her thigh and the red, swollen, angry wound marring her otherwise white skin.

The daughter of Apollo breathed in deep and studied the wound. "Percy I need you to go and get some water from the nearby stream. Just need a little to clean the wound. Jason I need you to find me a small, sturdy stick. If I can do anything permanent, she'll need that to bite down on. When you get back, I need you to get that electricity running: it'll help ionize the water." As the boys ran off, Lyca stared at Annabeth, who looked like she was just managing to hold it all together while in so much pain. "Don't worry Annabeth. One way or another, we'll fix that leg of yours."

* * *

><p>Reyna expected to not feel anything. Actually she expected to feel herself splatter against sheer concrete and solid stone chariot and dead horse, and after that she was going to feel nothing. So she was utterly surprised when she could only feel herself braced against the smooth obsidian chariot and the fact that her eyes were clenched shut. Reyna heard the clattering of the wheels on bumpy ground and the wind blowing past. "You know, you can look now," she heard Nico tell her over the wind rushing by the chariot.<p>

The praetor opened first one eye and then the other, looking herself over and then at the son of Pluto beside her. He had summoned enough ghosts in her presence to know that neither of them held the sickly pale vigor of the dead. She managed to stand upright in the chariot, realizing that the horses weren't moving nearly as fast as they were when they left the camp. "Where are we? Why are we moving so slow?" Reyna asked him.

Nico snapped the reins again and the horses kept moving over the plain. "My best guess? We're in Kansas right now. I'm tracking the Arena with the smell of the dying demigods. It's a strong smell when I'm in range, so we should be there soon. If I'm right, Thalia will already be nearby." Nico stifled a yawn as he continued speaking. "We're moving so slow now because shadow travel is draining. Typically, a child of Hades or certain types of monsters or animals can do it. My first travel by myself almost knocked me out for a week. Anyways, both horses used their powers to shadow travel themselves and the chariot. I picked up the slack and took you and me. The horses are tired, so when we finally stop they will need to rest until its time to go again."

Reyna nodded to herself, and the ride continued in silence, until Nico spoke up again. "It's not any of my business, but since we're supposed to be allies I feel like I can at least ask this question." Reyna turned her dark eyes onto Nico's pale face, who continued to stare ahead and steer the horses from hell. After waiting a beat for a rejection of questions, he continued. "Why are you so dead set to get Jason out of the Arena? I mean, I understand that he's co-praetor with you or something, but you have strong legionnaires who could take his place if necessary, I think. Of course, I'm going to save Percy and Annabeth, but it's a little more necessary for me than you. The Greeks need a child of the Big Three to take control, and it can't be me."

Reyna thought about the question. Maybe the boy's question made sense to her. Jason was a powerful praetor, but if it came down to it, she could find someone to take his place. But what if she didn't want anyone else to take his place? It wasn't uncommon for praetors to be linked romantically...was that what she wanted between her and the son of Jupiter? Maybe her search for Jason Grace was more than a little bit personal, but she didn't share any of that with Nico D'Angelo. Instead, her eyes spied a large dome on the horizon, and she pointed at it. "What is that?"

Nico stared at it, and if it was possible, Reyna swore his dark eyes grew even darker. "That's our destination. That's the Arena."

* * *

><p>Lyca stared resignedly at the situation she found herself and her new allies in. Just like Jason and Percy's more powerful abilities, her healing capabilities had been diminished in the confines of the Arena. She actually should have expected that much; it'd be cheating if she could keep healing herself. The daughter of Apollo had managed to clean the wound with the ionized water, courtesy of Jason and his static electricity, and then she wrapped it firmly with strips of cloth Percy had found in the camp. Percy made himself useful during as well, cradling Annabeth's head in his lap, cooing uncharacteristically at her and using the leftover water to clean the sweat from her brow and cool her heating skin. "You know," Lyca said absently, finishing off the knot in the makeshift bandage, "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you two were more than friends." She expected to hear some very general declarations of, <em>Nah, we're completely like siblings,<em> but the complete and utter silence from the pair took her by surprise. She looked up from her finished job and noticed that Jason was glancing at the two expentantly, expecting an answer one way or another. Lyca watched intently as she noticed Percy's skin flush red in the dim light of his bronze sword.

Jason broke the awkward silence. "So, Lyca. Why don't we go and check out this new bow of yours? I figure that it's been a couple years since you used one, and you might want to get your body back into the rhythm of sniping people." He grabbed the arrows and tugged on Lyca's arm gently.

"Sure," Lyca said warily, grabbing the bow beside her and leaving the clustered grove of trees. "But keep an eye on those arrows. We don't know how many we might need to bust out." She slid out of the trees fluidly, leaving the two alone to themselves.

Jason half-led, half-dragged Lyca off to the hill towering over their temporary hideout. When they were far enough away, Jason looked back at her. "Sorry about dragging you out like that, but something tells me that the question you asked is one that they haven't answered yet." He held the quiver out toward the daughter of Apollo, and she plucked three arrows from it and stuck them in the ground in front of her.

"Maybe," Lyca replied, shrugging her shoulders. She tugged on the glove on her right hand and adjusted her grip on the bow, noting how perfect it fit her hand, as if she'd made it for her own hand. She let her thumb linger on the bowstring before plucking it to hear the low, sweet twanging sound resonate through her hand and up her body. She grabbed hold of an arrow and notched it to her bow, pulling the bowstring taut along her arm. "Call a target, Sparky, and we'll see if I can hit it."

Jason glanced around, looking for an easy target. "There's a tree by the bloodlust camp, just down the hill. Hit the trunk."

Lyca rolled her eyes and took one deep breath as she lined up her shot, before letting the arrow fly. A sharp thudding sound let her know she nailed her target. "That was way too easy! I'm a child of Apollo. I know the Arena is sapping our powers, but come on. Give me something tougher."

"Okay," Jason said, heading to retrieve the arrow. "How about nailing those apples over our grove? We need some food. Maybe you should split one, too, just to test your skill."' He said with a wink, as he wandered slowly down the hill, the quiver on his back, off to get the lone arrow.

Lyca nodded to herself grimly. "Great. A light bulb, a telephone between gods and mortals, and now apple-picker." She notched an arrow and, after judging where she wanted to put her shot, closed her eyes and released. She opened her eyes and watched the apple free-falling, pierced cleanly with an arrow. "I know I can be more than this. There's something more I can do, I just know it." Lyca took aim at another apple before changing her mind and aiming wide, letting the arrow fly and watching as it cut two apples down at once.

She looked down the hill and towards the grove and watched Jason fetch her arrows and wave her down with them. _Jason is the son of Zeus. Percy is the son of Poseidon. Those two are made to be great. And Annabeth is brilliant. She's worthy of being Athena's child_, she thought to herself, while she began thumbing her bowstring. _Please Dad, let me be special. I want to be worthy of you. I want to help however I can. _

She saw someone waving down the hill and noticed Jason waving some more, trying to get the demigod to join them, although she noted he was moving more urgently. Then he started pointing toward his hand, which grasped her three arrows. On a whim, she looked down at her bow while her fingers still played with the bowstring, and was surprised when she saw a small flash of light as her fingers danced along the string. She held her fingers steady and noticed the silhouette of an arrow resting against her bow. She pulled the bow taut, as if she was aiming at something; the arrow of light was still pinched between her fingertips, waiting to fly. Wanting to see what would happen, she let go of the bowstring, and watched as the arrow flashed out of her grasp and spiraled away, picking up speed before disappearing in the darkness, faster than any normal arrow she'd ever shot. Jason dropped the apples and the arrows and ran off into the forest, following the path of her arrow.

Lyca came down from the hill, where she met the son of Jupiter at the foot of the hill.

"What was that?!" Jason asked her, his blue eyes wide with amazement.

Lyca's eyes were just as wide. "I don't know...It looked like an arrow in my hand. Where'd it go?"

Jason shrugged his shoulders but held out his hands. "I couldn't find it. I think it disappeared. But look what I found." A half in each hand, he held out an apple that looked as if it had been lightly roasted.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay the calm before the storm. Lyca's learning more about her powers and Percy and Annabeth are confronted with the truth. And Nico and Reyna are ready to bust out the gang. Thalia will be in the next one and there should be action, as well as that new POV that I originally planned for a couple of chapters ago. Please review guys, I like hearing your input. **


	9. Jailbreak Pt 1

Dark-haired Nico glared at the barrier in front of him, the one keeping him and Reyna out of the Arena and away from their friends. The demigod gripped his Stygian Iron sword tightly, his knuckles growing a ghostly pale white from the pressure. He hadn't exactly figured out how to break down the barrier of magic keeping him out; he'd forced some pillars of rock into it, and found out that it wasn't disintegrative. He knew that ultimately, he couldn't figure out how to get in, not in time to save Percy and Jason, so he decided to ask someone who could. While Reyna sat by the horses, which were grazing absently, Nico dug up a little patch of ground and tossed one of his sandwiches into the dirt, immediately drowning it in Coca-Cola. _Not the most favored meal of the dead, but it will have to do,_ Nico thought to himself, placing his hands together and muttering the incantation to call the dead back from the Underworld. In the very back of his mind, he thought he could hear the praetor behind him shivering involuntarily, but he decided that he needed to focus in order to call the souls to him. There had to be somebody down there who could tell him what he needed to know to bring down the walls.

The first spirit that came to him was Charles Beckendorf, the son of Hephaestus that died trying to save Percy from the _Andromeda,_ the cruise ship that Luke Castellan had used to transport monsters to New York. Beckendorf bent down and cupped a very little of the mixture in his hands and drank before wiping his face and looking straight at the son of Hades. "Nico di Angelo." He spoke frankly, but friendly. "It's been a long time. To what do I owe the honor of being called by the King of the Ghosts?"

Nico looked the spirit of Beckendorf in the eyes. "Yeah, I needed to know something about this barrier. Some of our friends are sealed in. I need to get them out."

Beckendorf stared at the wall next to them, studying the wall. "Have you touched it?"

Nico nodded. "Solid. It doesn't budge with force, but admittedly I wasn't trying my hardest at this point."

Beckendorf nodded slowly, grasping his chin with his hand. "It seems strong. Like it was cast by a god."

"Titan," Nico clarified, noticing the other spirits swarming for a drink from the pit. He focused hard, banishing the spirits from his presence, except for one, whom he knew that Beckendorf would want nearby. It stooped at the pit and drank, its hand wiping at the side of its head before the flickering spirit solidified and took the shape of a slim girl with flowing black hair and blue eyes, taking a place next to Beckendorf.

"Silena?" Nico asked, eyes dropping wide at the sight of the daughter of Aphrodite, stunning even in death.

Silena Beauregard blinked a few times before smiling a beautiful grin that belayed all the grace and ardor that came with being with a daughter of Aphrodite. "Nico. You've grown up. How are you?" Nico dragged his hand through his scruffy hair, trying to figure out how to explain the situation. "Well, I wasn't going to interrupt things for you guys in Elysium. You two deserved peace. But things didn't go well after you two passed on. Did Bianca tell you anything that I've told her about what's been happening? " Silena shook her head at the son of Hades while Beckendorf continued to study the barrier in front of him. Nico quickly relayed how Percy Jackson tried but couldn't defeat Kronos, how the Titans took over and ransacked Camp Half-Blood. "So," Nico concluded his tale, "we need to break this barrier to get some of the best demigods out to help us fight back. Percy and Annabeth are in there..."

Silena touched Nico's shoulder gently, offering him a soft smile. "Nico, you've done a great job. You've held our friends together when they very well would have been destroyed by Kronos. We couldn't be more proud of you, right Charlie?"

Beckendorf was shaken out of his focus. "Huh? Yeah, you done good, Nico. Now, about this barrier . . . did you get a prophecy for this mission or something?"

Nico nodded. "Yup. Here it is:

"_Son of Hades, make ready to travel,_

_Your journey will force the bonds to unravel._

_Wisdom and light, the sky and the sea_

_In turn will fight, set the demigod free._

_Lightning, light and earth must shatter the cage_

_To begin the end, Titan's last age."_

Beckendorf thought hard for a moment. He paced the area of the barrier before snapping his translucent fingers. "I've got it!" he cried.

"What is it?" Nico asked him.

"I think I've figured it out," Beckendorf replied, turning to the son of Hades. "What you need is to destabilize the power in the barrier." "Well how do I do that?"

Beckendorf grinned. "You've already got the answer. It's in the prophecy. But you might want to act fast. You don't know how long it will stay open for you." Beckendorf and Silena's shades began to shimmer and fade, the tell-tale sign that they were dissipating back into the Underworld. "So little buddy," Beckendorf said with a slight smirk, "keep things running smooth up here. Tell Jackson that I don't regret for a minute that I died saving him. He's the strongest half-blood I've ever known. He's your best chance at defeating Kronos. Good luck." Silena strode to Nico and gave him the briefest of kisses before turning back to Beckendorf, and with a wave, the two souls faded into nothingness.

Nico made his way back to Reyna, who was still nestled between the steeds of hell. "So..." she began. "How'd your little séance go?" Nico scowled at the reference before deciding to ignore that response. "I've got a way to break down the barrier...or at least I know what we need to break it down."

Reyna's eyes immediately brightened. "We can get Jason out?"

Nico's eyes darkened again. "_More_ than just Jason. There are plenty of demigods in there, and some of them might be your own soldiers. The least you could do is think about the others we might be able to save."

"It's more than just needing Jason because he's powerful!" Reyna burst out, raw emotion pouring from her voice. Nico was taken aback by the fury and desperation in her words as well as the thickness in her tone.

"There's more to this thing between you and Jason isn't it?" Nico asked her.

Reyna sighed. "It's not really like that. You don't really understand. You Greeks don't really have a defined leader." Nico was about to protest before she held up a hand. "Just hear me out. Now, it just seems like you pick whoever is the strongest or the most experienced or the oldest. You're the leader now, because you're the strongest and your father is one of the Big Three. Before that was Percy. Then Luke, before he betrayed you. But all in all, you had an unofficial leader. It's not the same with my people, in my world. Leaders are chosen, elected. They are relied on to guide the entire camp through whatever happens. That's why we have two praetors. The duties are divvied up equally, and no major decision is made without the authority of both praetors and the Senate. I've been the leader of the Romans by myself for almost three years now and the Senate is almost nonexistent now. Jason's been captured. Octavian went missing. The last person who was worthy of being praetor was killed in battle before we retreated to where we are now. It's been a long fight. I'm weary. Jason is my best bet to keep things running well. My best chance to save Rome." She absently picked at the grass under her feet, tossing it into the fire before her and watching it burn.

Nico stared at her in silence. Something wasn't there. Not everything fit perfectly, like a small but vital piece was missing. _ She's not telling me everything, I know it_. Nico shrugged. She didn't need to tell him everything now. At least he got something out of her. _ Maybe if we understand each other, we can work together._ Nico pondered his thoughts as he heard a wolf howling. "What is that Nico?" Reyna asked. Nico smirked, and Reyna watched as he visibly relaxed. "Our back-up is here," he told her, as he squinted into the distance. His eyes scanned the plains around them in search for something in particular. When he found it, he pointed; an arch of lightning passed through the grass, weaving its way towards the demigods. "The Hunters of Artemis have arrived."

* * *

><p>The Arena was too quiet. Too cold, too still, and far too silent for Lyca. She loved sounds, constant noises, and the eerie silence of the void that was the Arena drove her mad. To the daughter of Apollo, sound meant life. She always had something to listen to. When she was free, before the war, Lyca always had a pair of headphones on or an ear bud in one ear while listening to instructions in the other. Even for battle, she'd had the sons of Hephaestus build her headphones encased in celestial bronze so that she could have the music there for her as often as possible. There'd been more than a few times when she'd been caught off guard because she had the music on, but it was in her blood. Her dad was the god of music after all.<p>

Lyca shook herself, trying to snap herself out of her memories. She was on sentry duty while Annabeth, Percy, and Jason slept. She kept her gaze scanning the area around them, anticipating someone or something to emerge from the woods. She'd sat on the hill to give her the best view around them, and she'd taken her bow with her, but no arrows. She didn't think she needed to now. She was confident that she had shot an arrow of light through that apple. Annabeth and Percy almost couldn't believe it, but she'd shot a few more at a tree to prove it to them. She felt a little tired afterward, but she when she had woken up she felt better and didn't think much about it. Now she was awake and could shoot anything down with her special arrows. She thumbed her arrow string as she thought about what Annabeth hypothesized about the bow and the arrows.

* * *

><p><em>Annabeth tried to curl up as best as she could while trying to keep from scrapping her wound into the dirt or anything around her. Percy watched her with an unwavering gaze until she settled into a sense of comfort, however slight it might have been. As soon as he was sure that Annabeth was settled and dozing, Percy turned his sea-green eyes onto Lyca. "Make sure she's okay, please?" he asked the daughter of Apollo. The way his voice wrapped around the question like a thread, it touched Lyca. It wasn't weak, or whiny. But all the same, she could tell he was more worried about Annabeth than he let on. <em>

_Lyca could only nod and whisper softly for Annabeth's sake, "Of course." Percy flashed Lyca a gentle smile and headed off for sentry duty while Jason propped himself up against a tree at the entrance of their little grove before nodding off as well. A few minutes later and Lyca turned her attention completely to Annabeth. "Okay, the boys are gone now. Want to quit faking like you're sleep?" _

_ Almost immediately Annabeth's gray eyes flashed open, shining slightly from the moonbeams peeking through the leaves of the trees. "I figured you knew." _ _"Shouldn't you be sleeping, Annabeth?" Lyca scolded kiddingly._

_Annabeth huffed. "Percy's not thinking straight. We need to get out of here, and we need to do it soon. We can't last forever in here."_

_Lyca nodded, deciding not to ask Annabeth about her conversation with Percy. "How can we get out?" _

_Annabeth shrugged. "I don't know...even if we could fly, Hyperion would shoot us out of the sky. We can't dig out...it'd take too long. If only we hadn't destroyed the Labyrinth..." Annabeth kept muttering to herself, trying to figure out how to get out of the Arena. Lyca watched her in relative silence while propped up on one elbow and toying with her own hair. She could tell that Annabeth was getting frustrated; the daughter of Athena began winding a strand of hair tightly around her finger in irritation. Lyca decided to try and take Annabeth's mind off of their bigger problem so that she could rest like Percy wanted her to. _

"_Annabeth, why do you think that I have this...whatever it is? To make these arrows out of light? I mean, I've been an archer for a long time, and this is the first time this has ever happened to me." _

_Annabeth stared at Lyca's bow, then back at the bow she had been using to back Percy up. "I'm not sure. I mean, your bow is special: it's the bow of Odysseus. It's said that only Odysseus himself was strong enough to string his bow. Not even his son could do it. It's a powerful bow too; only the bow of Heracles is stronger, and only when paired with the poisoned arrows. But unlike the bow of Heracles, Odysseus's bow disappeared. Maybe Apollo took it, hid it so that one of his children could find it." Annabeth stared at the bow again before continuing. "The bow has to be magic, or something. It's the only way to explain how you can do that." Annabeth pillowed her head with her hands, letting her eyes drift close. "When we get out, I can do some research. Talk to Chiron or someone who knows weapons. Maybe he'll know about the properties of the bow." With those words, Annabeth allowed herself to fall asleep, leaving Lyca alone with her thoughts and the bow._

* * *

><p>Kronos tore a rift into the sky with his scythe, duly named <em>Backbiter <em>by the demigod he'd allow to borrow his weapon, the same demigod whose body he now inhabited. The Titan strolled confidently into the opened path, even if his mind wasn't nearly as focused and whole. On the other side of the rift, a cruel grin painted his face: he was home. He looked over the place which his descendants had built their abode. It may have been nice in its hey-day, but Kronos preferred the look of ruin and desolation that came with his occupation. He strolled the path the Olympians had, striding powerfully towards the hall of Mt. Olympus.

His steps echoed in the throne room, which was cold and dark and depressing. He loved it. Nothing could have made him happier. His power had been consolidated. The Olympians had been crushed underfoot. That brazen, foolish upstart Percy Jackson was by now fighting for his pathetic life in the dome of the Arena. He actually hoped that the half-blood would win: typically he had a penchant for allowing the winner of the Games to live, but he couldn't let Jackson run free. There were still pockets of resistance against his rule, and adding Jackson to their ranks would cause him formidable problems again. When Jackson was free, he'd torture him, slowly, agonizingly. Maybe he'd chain the boy beside his father, but eventually he'd slay the boy once and for all. He'd televise it. Every Olympian, every demigod who still had hope would despair when they saw their hero die. Once he'd conquered the demigod defense and Typhon had toppled the almighty Olympians, it was all too easy to take over the world. The Mist always worked to hide the supernatural from the mortals, and with his fellow Titan brothers laboring under him, he'd brought the most powerful nations under his thumb. Anyone who wasn't worth conquering was worth obliterating.

_Jackson will stop you! _a voice echoed through Kronos's head. _As long as Percy still breathes, he can stop you. He can still save the world. _

Kronos growled and grasped his head in pain. _This brat again, _he bit out sourly. "Silence, boy," he said aloud, finding himself falling into the throne of his young, headstrong son, Zeus. "Jackson had his chance to defeat us, if you recall. You had beaten me back, and in that moment, if you had been given the knife, you surely would have stopped me. Alas, he did not trust you, and now he is defeated, your precious family captured, your camp in ruins, and your body is mine."

_Not completely, _Luke Castellan retorted, and to prove his point, one of Kronos's hard golden eyes turned icy blue. _You know as well as I that your transformation was incomplete. You did not reform your body as we know is what would've happened had there been no interruptions. As it is, you merely have control of my body, for you still look like me. But I can disrupt your control. And it's only a matter of time before your brothers find out that you are weakened, a mere shell of your former glory. And when they do... _

"Silence boy!" Kronos roared. "You speak much for one with so little power."

"Who do you speak to brother?" a voice echoed from the entrance of the grand hall. The Lord of Time looked up, slightly startled when he saw his brothers, the Titans Krios and Koios.

"I speak to no one, dear brothers," Kronos told them, opening his hands in greeting. Krios and Koios looked to each other, and Koios nodded to Krios feverently.

"Brother, are you well?" Krios asked Kronos.

Kronos' eyes glowed completely gold, forcing Luke back. "Of course I am. I am ruler of all things. The chaos under our feet, the despair...it speaks wondrous things to me." Kronos waited for a beat, staring at his brothers. "Why do you ask such a question, Krios?"

Krios pulled his own robes closer to himself, sitting on Kronos's right hand. "Brother, if you are well, why do you insist on portraying yourself as the weak mortal whose body you possessed?"

Kronos's hand grasped his scythe, grip tightening on the handle. "I appropriated the boy's form so that when I unleash my next plans, the simpletons in this world will come to us willingly. This boy's face is one that can be beloved by the people, can persuade the people to fall in line with us. I can play the role of a charismatic man that they will follow."

"And the pockets of resistance?" Koios broke in.

"How can they focus on us when they are busy fighting for their lives? There are monsters all over the planet now, taking over. And then the foolish mortals will fight for us as well. The half-bloods will be wiped from the face of our Mother. Then, my brothers, we will remake this world in our image!"

Kronos stood, clutching his scythe. Krios and Koios nodded, bowing respectfully to their powerful younger brother, before taking their leave. As they turned, Kronos prepared to sit again but let out a brief groan on taking his seat.

Krios turned to see one of his brother's eyes turn icy blue instead of the cruel gold he was used to. _Kronos is hiding something from us. I WILL find out what it is. And if it is our brother weakening...well, someone else will have to usher us into a new Golden Age._

* * *

><p>Lyca glanced up at the sky, where the sun had already peaked over the horizon. She pulled her protective sleeves down from her arms so she could feel the sun play over her skin. She smiled to herself. She'd always enjoyed the feeling of the sun's rays grazing her skin throughout the day. Of course, she preferred the touch of her father; powerful and dominant but also gentle and loving, she thought. Hyperion's light was angry and red and tinged with hatred for those he deemed beneath him. It still invigorated her when she felt the light, but it felt odd to her, like a stranger.<p>

She snapped herself out of her thoughts. _Time to wake up the crew. _She stepped lightly and swiftly, making her way down the hill and into the enclosure of the trees. Lyca stood in the opening that served as the door, quietly observing how Jason slept stretched across the opening, clearly a way to protect the mouth of the grove. Further in, encased in the darkness of the trees, she could see Percy and Annabeth together. Annabeth's head rested on Percy's biceps, and his other arm curled protectively around her. Her leg was propped up on top of his so that the wound wouldn't drag the ground and cause her further pain.

She looked down at Jason, whose hand gripped his golden sword tightly, as if it was an anchor connecting him to this world. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that he was drooling a little out of the corner of his mouth. A grin played across her face as she stuck her knee into the blonde's shoulder and nudged him hard enough that he toppled over, falling face-first into the grass.

Immediately the son of Jupiter popped up, sword drawn and wide-eyed. "Wh-what?! Who's there? Are we under attack! Battle stations! For the glory of ROME!" he stammered as he struggled to stand and rush out to fight an enemy that wasn't really there.

Lyca couldn't do much but giggle at the antics of the son of Jupiter, then it dawned on her that she'd actually giggled. She hadn't done that in years; not even a smile since she'd been captured.

She was lost in thought when a voice interrupted her. "What's going on?" Annabeth asked her, the sleep evident in her voice.

Lyca nodded towards the door. "Scared the crap out of Jason. Thinks he's defending Rome from something." At that moment, Jason peeked his head back into the grove.

"Wasn't very funny," he grumbled at the daughter of Apollo as he sat against the nearest tree so he could face everyone. Annabeth gently detangled herself from the body of Percy Jackson and sat upright beside his head. "How is your wound?" Jason asked her.

"A little better," Annabeth stretched her leg out, wincing slightly at the pain. "I might be able to walk with some help, but I'm not good to protect anybody, much less myself."

Lyca unsheathed one of her hunting knives from her belt and placed the handle in Annabeth's hand. Annabeth looked at her, a question etched on her face. "I don't exactly need more than one right now," she told Annabeth. "You can use this. I've got my bow and my light arrows."

Annabeth nodded. "Thanks Lyca."

"So, what are we gonna do now?" Jason asked. "We're still stuck in this hellhole. If we're going to do anything, we've got to bust out first."

"How can we pull that off?" Lyca asked. "I'm sure that the barrier is too strong for us to break down on our own. We aren't even at our full powers."

Lyca and Jason both instinctively looked at Annabeth, who could only shrug. "I've been turning it over in my head for a long time, but I can't figure it out. There's something that I'm missing…at this rate it'd take me too long to figure out how we can get out of here."

Suddenly Percy's voice startled them. "Maybe I can help with that," he said as he sat up. He yawned before pulling himself up next to Annabeth, reclining against the tree she was propped up against.

"What do you mean, Percy?" Annabeth asked him.

Percy gave her a mischievous grin, one that she knew the Stoll brothers would be proud of. "I had a dream. Well, more than a dream. I saw Nico, and he was with this girl…she had black hair. He was out there somewhere, and he summoned Beckendorf and Silena…they told him how to break into a barrier."

"Well what does that have to do with us?" Jason asked. "And who is Nico?"

Percy only grinned that much more. "I thought more about it. He wasn't trying to break in. He's trying to bust something, or _someone_ out!"

Annabeth's gray eyes grew wide. Jason and Lyca's mouths fell open. "Then…then that means…"

"Nico's going to break us out."

* * *

><p><span><strong>AN: Hey guys. Sorry about the delay in updating. College sucks. If I could make money writing these stories, I would...but then...I'd be Rick Riordan wouldn't I? And I can't do his real stories any justice. Hopefully, now that it is summer, I will be able to update more frequently. As such, I ended up writing this chapter to be considerably longer than usual. I finally got the Kronos POV out too, that was difficult to write. Unfortunately, I couldn't fit Thalia into a speaking role in this chapter like I wanted. But don't worry guys, Nico won't fail you, and Thalia will be there to help him. Thanks for reading and being patient and reviewing. **


	10. Preparations

Needless to say, Reyna was irritated. The day hadn't exactly been going the way she had originally planned. She scoffed to herself, rolling her eyes simultaneously. _Nothing_ was going the way she wanted it to, not since New Rome had been sacked. Again. She'd done what any praetor before her would have done, such as Cato the Elder or Brutus and Cassius. But even she couldn't have prepared for the overwhelming forces of the Titans and in the end she had to pull as much of the Twelfth Legion out before she lost everyone. Jason had been on the front lines, coordinating their troops, and she'd had no other choice but to leave him in order to save New Rome's citizens, the Senate, and the remnants of the Legion. She'd watched Camp Jupiter go up in flames, and with it she'd lost Jason, Octavian, and both the 2nd and 3rd Cohorts. If Pluto's ambassador hadn't shadow-traveled to her and given her the option to go to the Midwest and stay there with his people, Reyna believed that the entire Legion would have been lost.

And for a long time she felt that a lot of them _had _been lost. She'd never thought she'd see or hear from Jason again, at least until Nico explicitly told her that Jason wasn't dead, because his soul never went to the Underworld. But even that good news wasn't enough because if Jason hadn't been killed, it very well could have been worse for him, and by extension, worse for her. In all her life, she'd never known a half-blood as strong as him.

And her problems didn't end there. Her Legionnaires and the Greeks they were holed up with weren't getting along, and keeping the infighting to a minimum was a conscious, daily effort. It didn't help that the counsel that "governed" the Greeks was splintered, with at least two of them being replaced as soon as they arrived in the ruins of Detroit, and half of those leaders being shipped off to command small skirmishes against Kronos's army throughout the country. The 4th Cohort had been sent out to fight as well, but in general things weren't going well. The Amazons (and her sister, by extension) were trapped on the West Coast, just barely hanging on.

Then there was Nico di Angelo. The kid was brilliant to clearly have not been in charge of the Greeks before the war, but he was irritating to say the least. And she'd never get used to the talking-to-the-dead thing. He scared her half to death with his shadow travel (not that she'd ever admit it to him), left her in the cold to talk to the dead, and was just creepy in general, what with his deathly pale skin and dark, piercing eyes. And he seemed more discerning than he let on: she knew he could sense that there was more to the equation that was Jason Grace.

And now she had to deal with more Greeks, according to the son of Hades. The lightning they had seen arcing over the plain had since ceased, but Reyna could still hear soft pads of movement through the grass towards them. She noticed Nico's shoulders slowly go slack, as if he'd been holding it together up until this moment and was finally letting go in relief.

While she studied the boy, a girl slipped out of the grass as smoothly as if she'd been walking down the street. Reyna wondered in disbelief how the girl could have ever been hidden with the clean white sleeveless shirt she wore, the silver camo sweatpants and the silver jacket tied around her waist, topped off with black combat boots. Her short, black hair was pulled back out of her face by a silver circlet, and metal skull earrings adorned her earlobes and framed her face.

"Reyna," Nico said, getting her attention. "Meet Thalia Grace, Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis. Thalia, this is the praetor of Camp Jupiter, Reyna Ramirez-Arellano."

In response, Reyna began to glare at Nico, while Thalia stalked over to him and thumped him in the forehead. "What have I told you about using my last name, Ghost Boy?" She then wrapped her arms around him in a brief, friendly hug.

"Sorry," Nico replied, hugging the Huntress back. "Should I have introduced you as the almighty Pinecone Face, daughter of Sky-Lord Zeus?" he asked, a grin spreading on his face. Thalia thumped him a little harder, coursing a small electric shock through his arm.

Thalia's grin froze as she noticed Reyna staring at her in what looked like disbelief. "What's with your friend, Nico? She won't stop staring."

Reyna couldn't help but stare: she had been stunned by the name she had heard. "Grace, he said?" she asked. "Your name is Thalia Grace?"

"Yeah, it's my name," Thalia replied blandly, "but I don't use it. Just call me Thalia." The Huntress turned to her old ally and friend. "What's her deal?" Nico could do nothing but shrug. Thalia stared back at Reyna, while the praetor continued her personal mini freak out.

"Anyways," Nico started, eager to get off the subject of Reyna. "It's just you? Where are the rest of the Hunters?"

Thalia stared at the field, as is she were concentrating on the horizon. When she heard loud howls echo across the plain, she smiled and looked back to Nico. "I had Phoebe take half of the Hunters to the front lines to back up your campers. The rest went ahead to Detroit to wait for us and bolster the garrison."

"And Phoebe let you go without backup? No honor guard, nothing? Does she know you'll be here saving boys?" Nico asked, this typically grim face playing into another smile. "I think she'd have insisted on coming if you told her that there would be boys."

Thalia shook her head. "Even if I told her what I was doing, she'd understand. I'm still Artemis's lieutenant and even Phoebe can agree that we need all the warriors we can get." The Huntress stopped and nodded at the grass. "And at any rate, I brought my own honor guard." At the end of her sentence, two wolves bounded from the grass, immediately moving to flank Thalia. The daughter of Zeus knelt on one knee and said, "Heel!" Immediately the wolves, one pale white and the other tawny brown, sat on their hind legs, waiting for the next command.

Thalia rubbed each wolf's coat as she spoke. "I trust these two wolves as much as any of my Hunters." She looked at Reyna and Nico. "So what's our plan? How are we breaking them out?"

Nico looked Thalia in her electric blue eyes. "The prophecy Rachel gave me said that we need light, lightning and earth to shatter the cage. That's why I sent for you: we need you to be the lightning."

"What about Jason?" Reyna asked him. "Jason is a son of Jupiter; he should be more than capable to use the lightning."

While Thalia eyed Reyna strangely, Nico agreed with her. "You're right Reyna, but we can't reach him from this side and tell him that we need his help to shatter the cage. Besides, some of the spirits of the dead Arena captives have 'graciously' shared some vital information. Supposedly, special demigod abilities have been hampered by the Arena, and a lot of them were left without some of their best skills. If Percy and Jason are in there, it's likely that they aren't going to be of much help with their powers. So Thalia can take care of the lightning. As for the earth…" Nico flexed his fingers and slowly chunks of rock and dirt began to levitate under his powerful reach. "Well, I've got that under control."

Reyna looked puzzled. "Well, what about light? You said, 'light, lightning and earth will shatter the cage.' If you and Thalia can control earth and lightning, who can bring the light?"

Nico shrugged. "I've never heard of the Oracle stuttering or using the wrong words. We have to assume she actually meant light. But that could be anything. It could be sunlight for all we know."

"Annabeth could have figured it out in no time," Thalia interjected. "We need to get to work Nico, before we run out of time. It's our turn to save Seaweed Brain."

* * *

><p>"Wait. What was the prophecy again?" Annabeth asked Percy as she limped alongside him, using him as a human crutch while the group made their way, following Percy's directions. Jason walked a bit ahead, enough to cut down any stray foliage that could make Annabeth stumble, while Lyca took the rear, bow in hand, ready to shoot down anything that didn't immediately identify itself as an ally, and even then, she was feeling just a little trigger-happy.<p>

Percy sighed in frustration. "I don't know the whole prophecy. I only managed to get the last part. He said something about setting demigods free and shattering a cage. He rattled off some elements too, lightning and earth. I think he said light too, or maybe he was repeating himself."

"Why would Nico repeat himself?" Annabeth grimaced for a split second before her entire face dropped into a state of unbelievable calm, and Percy knew now more than ever that she was in a bad way. He shifted mid-step to bear more of her weight, ignoring the stony glare the daughter of Athena gave him in return.

"I'm not sure. I wish I could've heard more. Maybe we could figure it out with more of the prophecy."

Jason stopped suddenly, causing Percy to tense up under the weight of Annabeth and for Lyca to knock a regular arrow onto her bow. "You said Nico was the son of Hades, right?" Jason asked.

Using her head, Annabeth motioned to a fallen tree, indicating that she wanted Percy to set her down so she could rest. When he had done so, she breathed out in relief. "Nico was being trained by his father when the war was going on. We didn't even know that he'd survived the Battle of New York. What made you ask, Jason?"

Jason knelt across from Percy and Annabeth. "We might not need all of the prophecy." The son of Jupiter looked at Percy. "You said that he talked about earth and lightning, maybe even light." Percy nodded, waiting for Jason to continue. "Well, I'm the son of Jupiter, god of the skies. His preferred weapon is the thunderbolt. What if lightning is the power of Jupiter? When I had my full powers, I could call lightning down from the sky."

Annabeth's face brightened. "That makes sense! Thalia could call down lightning too! Maybe you're onto something, Jason." Percy made to speak, but Annabeth's mind went into overdrive, and she couldn't stop herself. "And Nico is the son of Hades! He can control the earth! And if we need someone on our side, Percy, you're the son of the Earthshaker! When we fought against Kronos in New York, you brought down an entire bridge by stabbing it with Riptide! Between the two of you, 'earth' is covered."

"What about light?" Percy asked her.

Annabeth tapped a finger on her chin for a moment before smiling wryly. "Well, Apollo isn't called 'the god of light' for nothing," she said, causing the daughter of Apollo to focus on her.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lyca asked her, slinging her bow over her shoulder.

"Lyca, you said it yourself. You shoot arrows of light from that bow on your back. You could literally glow as a child. We've seen you use it not even a day ago. You have to be the missing part of the prophecy. That's why Jason found you, and why Calypso possessed you to stop us from fighting. Fate wants you to help us bust out."

"Well, maybe it's just the bow…I've never been able to shoot arrows of light before."

"None of us could even string that bow, much less fire it. Face it, Lyca, the prophecy is talking about you."

"No other child of Apollo has been blessed with these powers."

"No stories of Poseidon's children have them able to do things I can with water," Percy broke in. "He had giant sons who could walk on water, but the rest, like Theseus, had no powers over water at all. I'm the only one. And, so far, you're the only child of Apollo I know who can generate light."

"All it takes is a little practice," Annabeth said finally, using Percy's arm as a brace to stand. Percy immediately moved to support the daughter of Athena. "It took Percy years to begin to understand how he triggered his powers, and then how to use it effectively. You're halfway there Lyca, and we believe that you can help us out."

Lyca breathed deeply as she watched her allies continue to walk by. She stared at her hands before grabbing her bow from her shoulder. _Well, Dad, I prayed for the ability to help them out, and maybe, just maybe, you've actually answered my prayers._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And it happens again. Honestly guys, I don't know what to say. Actually, I do. It's my fourth year of college, and I've been going through some things. Not much of an excuse, but between all this extra stuff and my job, I suffered a couple of deaths in the family. This chapter as you see it has been done for awhile: I've been trying to do all of the Jailbreak in this chapter, but that wasn't happening. They officially bust out next chapter. I can't make any promises about when the next chapter is coming, but I will say this: I will finish this story.**

**In addition, if there are particular viewpoints you'd like to see the story from, let me know in a review or a PM. Currently, I've done Lyca, Percy, Nico, Reyna, Kronos/Luke, and maybe Jason and Annabeth (I don't recall right now). If there's anybody in this story who hasn't been listed as dead or away as the story continues, let me know if you want to see "Playing the Games" from their eyes. **

**Also very excited for the Blood of Olympus coming in October and the next series, "Olympian Knights", slated for 2016 at this point. There will maybe (provided the workload allows) another chapter to celebrate. Thank you for all your support. **


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